Class 
Book 



THE 

HISTORY 

OF 

PALESTINE 

FROM THE 

PATRIARCHAL AGE TO THE PRESENT TIME 

WITH 

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS ON THE GEOGRAPHY AND 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY, AND ON 
THE CUSTOMS AND INSTITUTIONS 
OF THE HEBREWS. 

BY JOHN KITTO, D.D., F.S.A.. 

EDITOR OF THE PICTORIAL BIBLE, THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF PALESTINE, 
THE CYCLOPAEDIA OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, ETC. 



WITH UPWARDS OF 200 ILLUSTRATIONS. 



EDINBURGH : 
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK. 
LONGMAN & CO. LONDON. 

MDCCCLI. 



EDINBURGH : PRINTED BY ROBERT CLARK. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present work was originally undertaken with the view of 
supplying what has been felt as a desideratum in schools — a 
History of Palestine, with accounts of the geography of the" 
country, and of the customs and institutions of its ancient 
inhabitants ; but it has been suggested to the Publishers, that 
the volume might be considered a valuable acquisition by 
readers of a more advanced class, on account of the informa- 
tion it contains, and the connected and compendious form in 
which it presents the history of the Hebrew nation from the 
time of Abraham, through the various political forms which 
it assumed till the dispersion of that peculiar people. 

The History has been written expressly for its present 
use, and is in no respect an abridgment of the author's larger 
work, The Pictorial History of Palestine. In the Introduc- 
tory Chapters much assistance has been obtained from the 
Biblical Archaeology of Professor Jahn, and from a variety 
of other sources — the whole being illustrated by the results 
of such acquaintance with Oriental customs as the author's 
former residence in the East enabled him to acquire. 



iv 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Edition has been carefully revised through- 
out ; considerable improvements have been made — particularly 
in the Introduction ; and a greatly increased number of really 
Illustrative Wood-cuts have been inserted. 

J. K. 



London, 20th October 1851. 



CONTEXTS. 



Part I. Historical and Physical Geography. — Names — Divi- 
sions — Bordering Nations — Mountains — Plains and 
Valleys — Rivers — Lakes — Climate and Seasons Page 1 

II. Agriculture and Pasturage. — Laws — Operations and 
Implements — Vines and Vineyards — Trees — Pastures 
— Flocks and Herds 25 

III. Habits of Life. — Habitations and Utensils — Food and 

Dress — Women and Children — Etiquette — Travelling 
— Customs relating to the Dead .... 52 

IV. Literature. Science, and Art. — Literature — Science and 

Art — Commerce and War ... .91 

V. Institutions. — Religious — Political — Judicial . . 108 

HISTORY OF PALESTINE. 

Book I. From the Deluge till the Death of Joseph . . . 127 

II. From the Birth till the Death of Moses . . .157 

III. From the Death of Moses till the Accession of Saul 191 

IV. From the Reign of Saul till the Death of Solomon . 225 
V. From the Revolt of the Ten Tribes till the Captivity of 

the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar . . . .270 
VI. From the Captivity till the Rise of the Maccabees . 316 
VII. From the Rise of the Maccabees till the End of the Asa- 

monean Dynasty 349 

VIII. From the Reign of Herod the Great till the Restoration of 

Syria to the Dominion of the Porte . . . 378 



TABLES OF SCEIPTUEE MEASURES, WEIGHTS, 
AND COINS. 



MEASURES OF LENGTH. 



Feet. Dec. 

A Fathom, equal to 4 cubits, or 7-296 

Inches. Dec. 

A Cubit, equal to 21-888 

A Span the longer, equal to half a cubit, or 10*944 

A Span the less, equal to a third of a cubit, or ... . 7*296 
A Hand's-breadth, equal to a sixth of a cubit, or . . . 3*684 
A Finger's-breadth, equal to a twenty-fourth of a cubit, or 0*912 

MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 

Wine Gall. Pints. 

Chomer or Homer, equal to 75 5f 

Ephah or Bath, equal to 7 5 

Seah, one-third of ephah, equal to . 2 4 

Hin, one-sixth of ephah, equal to 1 2 

Omer, one-tenth of ephah, equal to , . . 6 

Cab, one-eighteenth of ephah, equal to 3f 



WEIGHTS AND COINS. 

Grains. S. D. 

Shekel, equal to ... 219 silver, equal to . . 2 4J 

Bekah, half shekel . . 109*5 „ „ . . . 1 2| 

Gerah, one-tenth of bekah, 10*95 „ „ . . . 1-J 
Man eh, equal to 100 shekel-Aveight. 

Maneh in coin, equal to 60 shekels £7 15 

Talent of Silver, equal to 3000 shekels 353 11 10 

Talent of Gold, the same weight 5075 15 7 



ROMAN MONEY MENTIONED IN NEW TESTAMENT. 

Pence. Farth. 

Denarius, silver, equal to 7 3 

Assis, copper „ 3 

Assarium . . . „ 1J 

Quadrans . . . „ Of 

A Mite . . . „ 0| 



INTRODUCTION. 



PAET I -HISTOEICAL AND PHYSICAL GEOGBAPHY. 



SECTION L-HISTORICAL GEOGKAPHY. 



NAMES. 

Palestine has, in different ages, been known by various 
names : — 

1. In Scripture it is called, by way of pre-eminence, The 
Land ; * every region being pre-eminently the land or country 
of its inhabitants. It is also called, distinctively, The Land 
of the successive proprietors or occupants of the whole country, 
or of particular parts of it: — as, 1. The Land of Canaan; 
from Canaan, the youngest son of Ham, and grandson of 
Noah, among whose eleven sons the country was divided, 
after the Confusion at Babel (Gen. x. 6, 15) : — 2. The Land 
of Israel ; from the Israelites, the posterity of Israel (Jacob), 
who drove out the Canaanites, and settled therein : — 3. The 
Land of Judah ; a name which was at first restricted to the 
domains of the tribe of Judah ; but was afterwards applied 
to the separate kingdom formed by the tribes of Judah and 
* Often translated " The Earth, 1 ' in English versions. 



2 



INTRODUCTION. 



Benjamin (Psalm lxxvi. 1); and at last, under the form of 
Judaea, to the whole country. 

2. The name the Lord's (or Jehovah's) Land, or the 
Land of God, occurs frequently in the Old Testament, and 
bears a peculiar force when understood with reference to the 
fact that, under the Hebrew constitution, God Himself was 
the king of the land, and the sovereign proprietor of the soil 
(Lev. xxv. 23). The name Holy Land, does not seem to 
have been employed by the Jews until after the Captivity 
(Zech. ii. 12). They used it with reference to the fact, that 
the land was chosen by God to be the inheritance of His people, 
and the seat of His worship. Christians, among whom also 
the name is in common use, have, at the same time, regard 
to its being the scene of the acts and sufferings of Christ 
and His Apostles. The Land of Promise (Heb. xi. 9), 
is a name given with reference to the promise which God 
made to Abraham, that He would bestow this land on his 
children. 

3. Palestine may now, from general use, be regarded as 
the proper geographical name of the country. It is derived 
from the Philistines ; who obtained possession of a very impor- 
tant part of the land, and appear to have given their name 
to the whole of it in the 4;jme of Moses (Exod. xv. 14). 

DIVISIONS. 

1. The divisions of Palestine were different in different 
ages. — In the time of the Patriarchs, the country was divided 
among the tribes or nations descended from the sons of 
Canaan. The precise locality of each nation is not, in every 
case, distinctly known ; but the map exhibits the most prob- 
able arrangement. Here it is sufficient to mention that the 
Kenites, the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, lived on the 
east of the Jordan (Gen. xv. 18-21) ; and that, on the west 
of that river, or in Palestine Proper, the Hittites, the 
Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites, abode in the 
hill country of the south (afterwards belonging to Judah) ; 
the C an a anites— properly so called — in the middle, across 
the country, from the sea-coast to the river Jordan; the 



HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



3 



Girgashttes, along the eastern border of the lake of Genne- 
sareth ; and the Hivites in the north, among the southern 
branches of the Lebanon mountains. The southern part of 
the coast was occupied by the Philistines, and the northern 
part by the Phoenicians. 

2. In the time of Moses, when the Israelites prepared to 
enter Canaan, the distribution of the nations on the west of 
flie Jordan had undergone very little change ; but, on the 
east of that river, we find the three principal territories to 
have been Bashan, in the north, — that is to say, east and 
north-east of the lake Gennesareth ; Gilead, in the middle ; 
and, in the south, on the east of the Dead Sea, the Land of 
Moab, so called from one of the sons of Lot, who settled 
there. There are traces of the name of Gilead in the time 
of Jacob. 

3. After the Conquest, the land was distributed by lot 
among the tribes. The particulars of this distribution will 
be best seen by reference to the map. Judah, Benjamin, 
Simeon, and Dan, occupied the south ; Ephraim, half of 
Manasseh, and Issachar, the middle ; and Zebulon, Naph- 
tali, and Asher, the north. Keuben, Gad, and the other 
half of Manasseh, were settled beyond Jordan, in Bashan 
and Gilead. This distribution was in no way affected by the 
division of the country into two kingdoms, which took place 
after the death of Solomon. The boundary line between 
them was the northern limit of the tribe of Benjamin. 

4. After the Captivity, we hear very little of the territories 
of the tribes, for ten of them never returned to occupy their 
ancient domains. 

5. In the time of Christ, the country on the west of the 
Jordan was divided into the provinces of Galilee, Samaria, 
and Judaea. Galilee is a name which occurs repeatedly in 
the book of Joshua (xxi. 32) ; and very often in the later 
history. It was applied to that part of Palestine north of 
the plain of Esdraelon or Jezreel. This province was divided 
into Lower or Southern, and Upper or Northern Galilee. 
The latter section was also denominated Galilee of the Gentiles 
(Matt. iv. 15). Samaria occupied nearly the middle of 
Palestine ; but, although it extended across the country, it 
did not come down to the sea-shore. Judaea, as a province, 



4 



LNTEODUCTION. 



corresponded to the northern and western parts of the ancient 
kingdom of that name : but the south-eastern portion formed 
the territory of Idoi-Ea. On the other side of the Jordan 
the divisions were, at this time, more numerous and less dis- 
tinct. The whole country, generally, was called Pee^ea, 
and was divided into eight districts or cantons, namely: — 
1. Pee-Ea, in the more limited sense, which was the southern- 
most canton, extending from the river Arnon to the river 
Jabbok. — 2. G-ilead. north of the Jabbok, and highly popu- 
lous. — 3. Decaeolts. or the district of ten cities, which were 
Scythopolis or Bethshan on the west side of the Jordan), 
Hippos. G-adara. Pella. Philadelphia formerly Eabbath), 
Drum, Canatha, Gerasa, Eaphana, and, perhaps, Damascus; 
but there is not much certainty with regard to the ten cities 
from which the region had its name. — L Gauloxitis, 
extending to the north-east of the Upper Jordan and of the 
lake Gennesareth. — 5. Bataxjea, the ancient Bashan, but 
less extensive, east of the lake Gennesareth. — 6. Aubaxetts. 
also called Itte-Ea, and known to this day by the old name 
of Hauran Ezek. xlvii. 16-18 . to the north of Batana^a 
and the east of Gaulonitis. — 7. Tbachoxitis. extending to 
the north of Gaulonitis, and east from Paneas (Ca?sarea 
Philippi; and the sources of the Jordan, where it was sepa- 
rated from Galilee (Luke hi. 1). — 8. Abilexe, in the ex- 
treme north, among the mountains of Anti-Libanus. between 
Baaibec and Damascus. 



BOEDEEIXG XATIOXS. 

The bordering nations mentioned in Scripture, are the 
Philistines. Phcexiciaxs, Moaeites. Ammoxites, Medlaxites. 
Edomites. and Am a t.ekttes. 

1 . The Phtlisttxes. although they were settled in Pales- 
tine in the time of the Patriarchs, were not Canaanites, but 
strangers, who had probably migrated, or had been expelled, 
from Egypt. They drove out the Avites, a Canaanitish tribe, 
and established themselves in their room, in the small strip 
of territory on the south-west coast, from a point below Joppa 
to Gaza. Here they maintained themselves for many gene- 



HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



5 




Gaz£ 



rations, and, at times, made their power felt in the interior 
and in the sonth, long after the land of Canaan had been 
conquered by the Israelites. Their chief towns, each the seat' 
of a distinct state or 
republic, were Gath, 
Ekron, Ashdod, As- 
calon, and G-aza. 

2. The Phoenicians 
although Canaanites 
by origin, were not 
among the doomed 
nations whom the 
Israelites were order- 
ed to expel. In fact, 
their presence was 
rather useful than 
otherwise to the He- 
brew nation; and very 
friendly relations sub- 
sisted between them, 
which were much to the temporal advantage of both nations. 
The Phoenicians needed the products of the soil, which the 
Israelites raised in abundance ; and the Israelites wanted the 
various commodities which the traffic of the Phoenicians 
afforded, and for which they were glad to exchange their 
corn, wine, and oil. This intercourse was chiefly with the 
southern states of Tyre and Sidon, the more northern states 
being little noticed in the history of the Jews. As a nation, 
the Phoenicians occupied the northern portion of that extended 
plain along the coast, the southern portion of which was in 
the hands of the Philistines. 

3. Moab and Ammon were the descendants of the two 
sons of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. They established 
themselves in the country to the east of the river Jordon, in 
territories from which they expelled the aboriginal inhabi- 
tants, the gigantic races of the Emim and Zamzummim. The 
Moabites had their territory to the east of the Dead Sea and 
the lower J ordan ; and the Ammonites lived to the north- 
east of Moab. The chief town of the Moabites was Ar, or 
Rabbath- Ammon, or Areopolis, as it was afterwards called, 



6 



INTRODUCTION. 



situated upon the south bank of the Arnon, some ruins of 
which may still be traced. 

4. The Midianites were descended from Midian, the 
fourth son of Abraham, by his second wife, Keturah (Gen. 
xxv. 1-2). Their territory lay to the east and south-east of 
that of the Moabites. They seem to have been a more pas- 
toral and less settled people than the Moabites, in alliance 
with whom we usually find them acting. By the time that 
history introduces us to them, they appear to have become 
wholly adolatrous (Num. xxii. 2-7 ; xxxL) Another tribe of 
Midianites was established about the head of the eastern arm 
(Elanitic Gulf) of the Eed Sea ; among w T hom Moses found 
refuge when he fled from Egypt. They appear to have been 
a branch of the same stock, although it has been thought that 
the name of Cushites, which is sometimes given to them 
(Num. xii. 1; Hab. hi. 7), indicated a descent from Midian, 
the son of Cush. This, however, might be ascribed to their 
occupation of a territory usually considered as belonging to 
Cush or Ethiopia ; and it is an argument in favour of their 
descent from Abraham, that these Midianites still retained, in 
the time of Moses, the knowledge of the true God, which the 
world in general had lost. These distant Midianites had little 
connection with the Jewish history after the time of Moses. 

5. The Edomites were descended from Edom, or Esau, 

They were settled in 

the mountains of Seir, 
which extend along the 
eastern side of the great 
valley of Arabah, be- 
tween the Dead Sea 
and the Elanitic Gulf. 
In a valley among these 
mountains, the remains 
of Petra, the chief city 
of Edom, have only 
lately been discovered, 
and have been viewed 
with much wonder on 
account of the beautiful 
tombs and other monuments hewn in the surrounding cliffs. 



the son of Isaac and brother of Jacob. 




2. Interior of a Tomb. 



HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



7 



While the land was comparatively depopulated, during the 
Captivity of the Jews in Babylon, the Eclomites established 
themselves in the south-eastern parts of Judaea, whence, as 
already mentioned, that 

quarter came to be ; -; r ' ~"r*_ 

called Idmnasa, or the 
country of the Idu- 
maeans or Edomites. 

6. The Amalekites 
were descended from 
Amalek, the son of Ham 
and grandson of Noah. 
They were the most 
bitter enemies of the 
Israelites, by whom they 
were eventually exter- 
minated. We find them 
first in the fertile val- 
leys near the foot of 
Mount Sinai (Exod. 
xvii. 8-16); and after- 
wards on the southern 
borders of Palestine. 
They seem to have been 
a pastoral people ; and 

in that quarter there is a much larger extent of fine pasture 
grounds than was, until lately, supposed. 

All these nations have long been extinct; some before, 
and others very soon after the final dispersion of the Jews. 




8 



SECTION 1L— LAND. 



MOUNTAINS. 

1. Palestine may be regarded as a mountainous country. 
The mountains are the most lofty and imposing in the north, 
where the ridges branch off from Lebanon. To the north of 
the great central plain of Esdraelon, the eminences take the 
form of rounded hills, except towards the valley of the 
Jordan and its lakes, where the scenery has a stern and 
abrupt character, with deep ravines, tall cliffs, and numerous 
caverns. — The principal mountains are Lebanon, Hermon, 
Tabor, Carmel, Ebal, and Grerizim. 

2. Lebanon. The Labanon mountains consist of two 
ranges, which come down, parallel to each other, from the 
north, and extend their southern branches into Palestine. 
They enclose between them an extensive valley, called in 
Scripture "the valley of Lebanon" (Josh. xi. 17), and in 
other books, Ccele- Syria (the enclosed, or hollow Syria). 

The outer or western ridge, fronting the sea, into which 
it projects several promontories, was called Libanus by an- 
cient writers ; while to the inner, or eastern range, fronting 
the plains of Damascus, they gave the name of Anti-Libanus. 
But these distinctions are not found in the Bible, where the 
name Lebanon is applied to both ranges. Of the two ridges, 
Libanus is the loftiest ; and on its highest points, and in the 
fissures facing the north, snow may be found all the year 
round. Hence the ancient inhabitants obtained the snow 
with which they cooled their drinks in summer (Prov. xxv. 
13). This snow is not, however, in sufficient quantity, nor 
does it give a sufficiently marked appearance, to account for 
the name of the White Mountain, which is, in Hebrew, the 
meaning of Lebanon. The name must rather be ascribed to 
the general appearance of the mountains ; for they are com- 
posed of whitish limestone ; and the surface, as it reflects the 



LAND. 



9 



light, exhibits everywhere a whitish aspect. The mountains 
of the western Lebanon are cultivated in terraces ; and this 
region is now, as it was formerly, full of villages and people. 

3. Mount Hermon was the northern limit of the territory 
of Israel beyond Jordan (Deut. hi. 8 ; iv. 48 ; Josh. xi. 
3-17 ; xiii. 11), and the Psalmist speaks of it and Tabor as 
the representatives of all the mountains of Israel (Psalm 
lxxxix. 12 ; see also cxxxiii. 3 ; Sol. Song, iv. 8). This 
mountain is properly a prolongation of Anti-Libanus, and now 
bears, in Arabic, the name of Jebel-es- Sheikh, the Sheikh's 
Mountain. Its top is usually stated to be 10,000 feet above 
the Mediterranean, and during the whole year is partially 
crowned with snow, or rather ice, which, as it lies in the ra- 
vines, presents the appearance of radiant stripes, around and 
below the summit of the mountain. This range must not be 
confounded with another Mount Hermon (distinguished as 
Little Hermon), in the plain of Esdraelon. 

4. Tabor is, in many respects, the most remarkable 
mountain in Palestine. It stands apart and alone on the 
north-east border of the plain of Esdraelon, with all its fine 
proportions, from base to summit, displayed at one view. 
Seen from the south-west, it presents a semi-globular ap- 
pearance ; but from the north-west, it more resembles a 
truncated cone. Its height has been greatly over-estimated. 
Dr. Eobinson thinks that it does not exceed 1000 feet above 
the level of the plain. By an ancient path, which winds 
considerably, one may ride to the summit, where is a small 
oblong plain, with the foundations of ancient buildings. The 
view of the country from this place is very beautiful and ex- 
tensive. The mountain is of limestone, which is the general 
rock of Palestine. The sides of the mountain are mostly 
covered with bushes, and woods of oak trees (ilex and aegi- 
lops), with occasionally pistachio, presenting a beautiful ap- 
pearance, and affording a fine shade. This mountain is 
several times mentioned in the Old Testament (Josh. xix. 
12, 22 ; Judges iv. 6, 12, 14) ; but not in the New. It has, 
indeed, been said that it was the mountain on which our Lord 
was transfigured (Matt, xvii.) ; but this appears more than 
doubtful, from the fact, that the summit of Mount Tabor was 
then occupied by a fortified town. 



10 



INTRODUCTION. 




5. Carmel is a mountain ridge, six or eight miles long, 
stretching nearly north and south from the plain of Esdraelon 
into the sea, where it forms the high promontory which 

, s .-v,. - ; .^Op encloses, on the 

south, the bay of 
Acre. It is com- 
posed of a whitish 
stone, in which 
flints, sometimes 
curiously shaped, 
are embedded. 
The height has 
been variously 
stated, but, from 
comparison, it 
appears that the 
elevation of the 
highest points is 
nearly equal to 
that of Mount Tabor. On the east is the river Kishon and 
the plain of Esdraelon ; on the west, a small plain descending 
to the sea. Oaks and other trees grow abundantly on the 
moimtain ; and various wild fruits evince its ancient fertility 
and cultivation. Indeed, the name of Carmel means The 
Garden of God, or a very pleasant region. Mount Carmel is 
renowned in the Jewish history ; and is often alluded to in 
the imagery of the Prophets (1 Kings xviii. 19 ; 2 Kings ii. 
25 ; iv. 25 ; Isa. xxix. 17 ; xxxii. 15 ; xxxv. 2 ; Micah vii. 
14 ; Jer. xlviii. 43). 

6. Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, from which the solemn bless- 
ings and curses of the Law were declared to the assembled 
hosts of Israel, are mountains of Samaria, in the valley between 
which is the city of Shechem, now called Nabulus (Dent, xxvii. ; 
Josh. viii. 30-35). These mountains rise, in steep rocky pre- 
cipices, from the valley on each side, apparently to the height 
of 800 feet. They both appear to be equally naked and sterile, 
although some travellers have chosen to describe Gerizim, the 
mountain of blessings, as fair and fruitful, and Ebal, the moun- 
tain of curses, as bare and desolate. Gerizim is on the south- 
east, and Ebal on the north-west, side of the valley. 



LAND. 



11 



PLAINS AND VALLEYS. 

The principal plains of Palestine, are those of Lebanon, 
of the Jordan, of Jericho, of Esdraelon, and of the Coast. 

1. The Plain of Lebanon may be described as a valley, 
being enclosed between the parallel mountain ranges of Li- 
b'anus and Anti-Libanus. Although the greater part of it 
must have been in Solomon's dominion, it can scarcely be 
deemed to belong to Palestine Proper, but its geographical 
and historical connection with that country requires its intro- 
duction. This enclosed plain is the Ccele- Syria of the 
ancients, and now bears the name of el-Bekka (the valley). 
It is about ninety miles in length, from north to south, by a 
breadth of eleven miles, nearly equal throughout, except that 
it widens at the northern end and narrows at the southern. 
This plain is, perhaps, the most rich and beautiful part of 
Syria. The soil is good, and the water abundant from the 
numerous mountain springs on each side ; but the concentra- 
tion of the sun's rays renders the summer heat excessive. 
These are the sources of that fertility for which the valley 
has, in all ages, been renowned ; but only a small portion 
is now cultivated, the rest being left in pasture to the Arab 
tribes. 

2. The Plain of the Jordan. By this name we under- 
stand the margin of the lakes, as well as the valley watered 
by the river. Here the heat is still greater than in the 
valley of Lebanon, and, in consequence, palm trees and the 
fruits of more southern climes than Palestine, will grow freely 
wherever there is soil and water. But the latter is usually 
wanting, and, therefore, except on the immediate borders of 
the river, of the lake of Gennesareth, and of the lesser 
streams, the whole plain is barren and desolate ; for the 
intense heat which causes exuberant fertility wherever there 
is water, consumes the plain wherever water is wanting. 

3. The Plain of Jericho is but an opening or expansion 
in the plain of the Jordan, towards the Dead Sea. The 
whole expansion takes in the plains of Moab on the east side 
of the river, and the plains of Jericho on the west, and the 
breadth across is from ten to twelve miles. In fact, the plain 



12 



INTRODUCTION. 



of the Jordan is in no other part so wide. The large plain 
of Jericho is partly desert, but, from the abundance of water 
and the heat of the climate, it might be rendered highly pro- 
ductive ; indeed, the fertility of this plain has been celebrated 
in every age. Josephus describes it as the most fertile tract 
of Judaea, and calls it a " divine region." He speaks also of 
its beautiful gardens, and its groves of palru trees ; and his 
description is borne out by Scripture, in which Jericho is de- 
scribed as "The City of Palm Trees" (Deut. xxxiv. 3; 
Judges i. 16). This region also produced honey, opobalsam, 
the cyproso tree, (or el-henna), and niyrobalanum, as well as 
the common fruits of the earth in prolific abundance. The 
Scripture adds the sycamore tree to the number of its products 
(Luke xix. 4). Of all these productions which so distin- 
guished the climate of Jericho, and the greater part of which 
it enjoyed in common with Egypt, very few now remain. 
Only one solitary palm tree lingers in the plain ; the syca- 
mores have altogether disappeared ; the celebrated opobalsam 
is not known ; and the myrobalanum alone appears to thrive, 
being probably the thorny shrub, growing wild in the plain, 
to which the name of zukkum is given by the present inhabi- 
tants — the modern "Balsam of Jericho" is an oil, extracted 
from the kernels of the green nut which it bears. 

4. The Plain of Esdraelon is often mentioned in sacred 
history (Judges iv. 13-15, 16 ; v. 19 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 29 ; 
Zech. xii. 11 ; Judith i. 8) as the great battle-field of the 
Jewish and other nations, under the names of the 
Valley of Megiddo and the Valley of Jezreel ; and by Jose- 
phus as the Great Plain. The convenience of its extent and 
situation for military action and display has, from the earliest 
periods of history down to our own day, caused its surface, at 
certain intervals, to be moistened with the blood, and covered 
with the bodies, of conflicting warriors of almost every nation 
under heaven. This great plain, exclusive of three great 
arms which stretch eastward towards the valley of the J ordan, 
may be said to be in the form of an acute triangle, having 
the measure of thirteen or fourteen miles on the north, about 
eighteen on the east, and above twenty on the south-west. 
In the western portion this plain seems perfectly level, with 
a general declivity towards the Mediterranean; but in the 



LAND. 



13 



east it is somewhat undulated by slight spurs and swells from 
the roots of the mountains : from the eastern side three great 
valleys go off to the valley of the Jordan. These valleys are 
separated by the ridges of Gilboa and Little Hermon, and 
that which lies between these two ridges, is the proper valley 
of Jezreel, which name seems to be sometimes given to the 
whole plain of Esdraelon. The valley of Jezreel is a deep 
plain, and about three miles across. Before the verdure of 
spring and early summer has been parched up by the heat 
and drought of the late summer and autumn, the view of the 
Great Plain is, from its fertility and beauty, very delightful. 
In June, yellow fields of grain, with green patches of millet 
and cotton interspersed, chequer the landscape like a carpet. 
The plain itself is almost without villages, but there are seve- 
ral on the slopes of the enclosing hills, especially on the side 
of Mount Carmel. 

5. The Plain of the Coast is that tract of land which ex- 
tends along the coast, between the sea and the mountains. 
In some places, where the mountains approach the sea, this 
tract is interrupted by promontories and rising grounds ; but, 
taken generally, the whole coast of Palestine may be described 
as an extensive plain of various breadth. Sometimes it ex- 
pands into broad plains, at others it is contracted into narrow 
valleys. With the exception of some sandy tracts, the soil is 
throughout rich, and exceedingly productive. The climate is 
everywhere very warm, and is considered rather insalubrious 
as compared with the upland country. It is not mentioned 
by any one collective name in Scripture. The part fronting 
Samaria, and between Mount Carmel and Jaffa, near a rich 
pasture ground, was called the Valley of Sharon ; and the 
continuation southward, between Jaffa and Gaza, was called 
The Plain, as distinguished from the hill-country of Judah. 



14 



SECTION IIL-WATEES. 



RIVERS. 

1. The Jordan is the only river of any note in Palestine, 
and besides it there are only two or three perennial streams. 
The greater number of the streams which figure in the his- 
tory, and find place in the maps, are merely torrents or 
water-courses, which carry off the waters in the season of 
rain, or if they have their origin in springs, are spent, in the 
season of drought, soon after they quit their source. 

2. The Jordan. The remotest origin of this river lies 
among the mountains, not much less than forty miles north of 
the Sea of Galilee. The source is a large fountain, just above a 
place called Hasbeiya, whence the stream which flows from 
it takes the name of Hasbany. This is about twenty miles 
north of Banias, or Csesarea Philippi, and the ancient city of 
Dan, where again are large fountains, which have been from 
ancient times regarded as the sources of the Jordan, to the 
neglect of the more important and remoter source. The 
streams from these latter fountains there unite and form a 
small river, which, after rivnning a short distance further, 
unites with the Hasbany, and the streams, thus joined into 
one to form the true Jordan, then proceeds to the lake Huleh, 
from which the fountain is about twenty-five miles distant. 
This fountain, which has an undoubted title to stand at the 
head of the springs and fountains and lakes of this renowned 
river, hails up from the bottom of a shallow pool some eight 
or ten rods in circumference. It at once, even in the dry 
season, forms a considerable stream, which meanders for the 
first three miles through a narrow, but very lovely, and highly 
cultivated valley, and then sinks rapidly down a constantly 
deepening gorge of dark basalt for about six miles, until it 
reaches the level of the great volcanic plain, extending to 
the marsh above the Lake Huleh. Through this plain it 



15 



B ITERS. 



proceeds eight or ten miles, receiving the other streams in its 
way, and enters the lake not far from its north-west corner. 
The other stream which joins the Hasbany, and whose 




sources haTe been so long regarded as those of the Jordan, 
has distinct sources, at Banias and at Tel-el-Kacli. At 
Banias (anciently Paneas, from the worship of Pan) a stream 
issues from a spacious caTern, under a wall of rock, at the 
base of the Heish mountains. Directly OTer the caTern and 
in other parts, in the face of the perpendicular rock, niches 
haTe been cut to receiTe statues. Here Herod built a temple 
in honour of Augustus ; and there was a town somewhat 
below, traces of which still remain. This is, undoubtedly, 
that place and caTern, at the foot of a mountain, which Jo- 
sephus describes as the main source of the Jordan (Joseph. 
Ant. xt. 10, 3 ; Bell. Jud. i. 21-3). Yet, in another place 
(Joseph. Bell. Jud. iii. 10, 7), this writer refers the source 
to a remoter quarter. He relates that the Tetrarch Philip 
cast some chaff into the lake Phiala, and as it came out at 
the Paneas caTern, the lake was deemed the true source of 



16 



INTRODUCTION. 



the river. This lake lay 120 stadia eastward, and was deep 
and round, like a bowl or cup — whence its name Phiala. 
Such a lake, about a mile in circumference, and perfectly 
round, was discovered by Captains Irby and Mangles, as they 
journeyed from Damascus to Banias, not more than twelve 
miles from the latter place.* 

A second som-ce of the Jordan, as described by ancient 
writers, is at the place now called Tel-el-Kadi, which is about 
three miles to the west of the cavern at Banias. The Tel 
(hill) is a small elevation in the plain, with a flat space on 
the top ; here are two springs, one of which is very large. 
The united waters immediately form a stream, twelve or 
fifteen yards across, which rushes rapidly over a stony bed 
into a lower plain. After a course of about four miles the 
stream unites with that from Banias, forming the reputed 
Jordan, which then continues its course to join the Hasbany, 
and so to the lake Huleh. 

Between the two lakes lies a tract of high uneven table- 
land T through which flows the Jordan for about ten miles, in 

a narrow and some- 
what tortuous valley 
— the upper part a 
rapid stream, the lower 
slow and turbid. Near- 
ly two miles below the 
lake is a bridge, cal- 
led Jacob's Bridge ; 
and here the river is 
about eighty feet wide 
and four feet deep. 

6. Jacob's Bridge. ft ^ ft^ m 

passing through, the Jordan does not mingle its waters with 
those of the lake of Gennesareth ; this is also reported of 
other rivers that pass through lakes. It is certain that the 
course of the river may be traced through the middle of the 
lake by a line of smoother water. 

The portion of the Jordan which is historically and geo- 

* It has been more lately visited by Mr. Tipping, who has given an 
interesting representation and description of it in the new translation of 
Josephus by Dr. Traill. 




WATERS. 



IT 



graphically the most interesting and important, is that which 
rims between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. This 
portion was formerly bnt little known, but has of late been 
thoroughly explored (together with the Dead Sea) by an 
American expedition under the command of Lieut. Lynch of 
the United States naval service. It had been ascertained 
that the Dead Sea was more than a thousand feet below the 
level of the lake of Tiberias ; but it was difficult to under- 
stand this, seeing that the distance was but sixty miles, and 
this would give a fall of twenty per mile* to a river which 
was not known to be tortuous or to have any falls or rapids. 
From this explanation we, however, know that the river is 
full of rapids ; and that although the direct distance is but 
sixty miles, the course of the river is made at least 200 
miles by the exceedingly tortuous course of the stream. This 
reduces the fall to not more than six feet in the mile, and for 
this the numerous rapids sufficiently account. 

On leaving the lake of Gennesareth the river enters into 
a very broad valley, or Ghor, which name the natives apply 
to a depressed tract or plain between mountains. This name 
is applied to the plain of the Jordan, not only between the 
lake of Gennesareth and the Dead Sea, but quite across the 
Dead Sea, and to some distance beyond. The valley varies 
in width from five to ten miles between the mountains on 
each side. The river does not make its way straight through 
the midst of the Ghor ; it flows first near the western hills, 
then near the eastern, but advances to the Dead Sea through 
the middle of the valley. Within this valley there is a lower 
one, and within that, another still lower, through which the 
river flows ; the inner valley is about half a mile wide, and 
is generally green and beautiful, with trees and bushes, 
whereas the upper or large valley is, for the most part, sandy 
or barren ; and the mountains, or rather cliffs, and slopes of 
the river uplands, present, for the most part, a wild and 
cheerless aspect. The mountains on the west are the most 
precipitous, while those on the east rise in a gradual slope to 
a much greater elevation. The water of the river is clear 
and transparent, and abounds in fish. It is wholesome, al- 

* This was then thought to be without example : but it is now known that 
the Sacramento River of California has an average fall of 100 feet per mile. 

b 2 



18 



INTRODUCTION. 



ways cool, and nearly tasteless. It is turbid only in the 
vicinity of the falls and rapids, and on advancing to the Dead 
Sea, where it probably passes over beds of clay. The 
breadth and depth of the river varies much in different places 
and at different times of the year. Dr. Shaw calculates the 
average breadth at thirty yards, and the depth at nine feet. 
In the season of flood, in April and early in May, the river 
is full, and sometimes overflows its lower bank, to which fact 
there are several illusions in Scripture (Josh. iii. 15; 1 Chron. 
xii. 15 ; Jer. xii. 5 ; xlix. 19 ; 1. 44 ; Ecclus. xxiv. 26). 

3. The Kishon, that " ancient river," by whose wide and 
rapid stream the hosts of Sisera were swept away (Judges iv. 
13 ; v. 21), is, in winter and spring, a mighty river, flowing 
from Mount Tabor, and collecting the waters of a large part 
of the plain of Esdraelon and its bordering hills ; but in sum- 
mer all the part which passes over the plain is quite dried 
up, and only water from perennial springs in Carmel is then 
found in the last seven miles of its bed. It enters the bay 
of Acre near the foot of Mount Carmel. 

4. The Belus, now called Nahr Kardanus, enters the bay 
of Acre higher up than the Kishon. It is a small stream, ford- 
able even at its mouth in summer. It is not mentioned in 
the Bible, and is chiefly celebrated for the tradition, that the 
accidental vitrification of its sands taught man the art of 
making glass. 

5. The other streams of note enter the Jordan from the 
east ; these are the Jarmuch, the Jabbok, and the Arnon. — 
The Jarmuch, called also Sheriatel-Mandhur, anciently Hiero- 
max, joins the Jordan five miles below the lake of Gennesa- 
reth. Its source is ascribed to a small lake, almost a mile in 
circumference, at Mezareib, which is thirty miles east of the 
Jordan. It is a beautiful stream, and yields a considerable 
body of water to the Jordan. 

6. The Jabbok, now called Zerka, is a small stream, 
winding prettily through a deep valley or ravine, which is 
not so well wooded as its neighbourhood. The water is very 
clear ; and, although narrow, the stream is deep and its 
course rapid. 

7. The Arnon, now called Wady Modjeb, enters the Dead 
Sea. It was the river of Moab, and as such is often men- 



WATERS. 



L9 



tioned in Scripture. This stream also flows through an 
exceedingly deep valley, which is less shrubby than the river 
valleys of this country usually are. It is almost exhausted 
by the end of summer, but at all times there are clear indica- 
tions of the furious rapidity with which the full stream rushes 
to the Dead Sea during the season of rain. 

LAKES. 

The river Jordan in its course forms three remarkable 
lakes, in the last of which, called the Dead Sea, it is lost : — 

It The Lake Merom (Josh. xi. 5-7), or Samochonitis 
(Joseph. Antiq. v. 5, 1) now called Huleh, the first of these 
serves as a kind of reservoir to collect the waters which form 
the Jordan, and again to send them forth in a single stream. 
The lake is of a triangular or funnel shape, five or six miles 
broad at its base, and tapers down to an apex at its outlet, 
at a distance of six or eight miles from the northern base. 
This is in spring, when the waters are highest ; but in sum- 
mer it becomes a mere marsh. In some parts it is sown with 
rice, and its reeds and rushes afford shelter to wild hogs. 

2. The Lake of Gennesareth, called also the Sea of 
Galilee, and the Lake of Tiberias. After quitting the lake 
Huleh, the river Jordan proceeds for about thirteen miles 
southward, and then enters the great lake of Gennesareth. 
This lake lies very deep, among fruitful hills and mountains, 
from which, in the season, many rivulets descend ; its shape 
will be seen from the map. The extent has been greatly over- 
rated : Dr. Eobinson considers that the length, in a straight 
line, does not exceed eleven or twelve geographical miles, 
and that the breadth is from five to six miles. From numer- 
ous indications, it is judged that the bed of this lake was 
formed by some ancient volcanic eruption, which history has 
not recorded ; the waters are very clear and sweet, and con- 
tain various kinds of excellent fish in great abundance. It 
will be remembered that several of the Apostles were fisher- 
men of this lake, and that it was also the scene of several 
transactions in the life of Christ ; it is thus frequently men- 
tioned in the New Testament, but very rarely in the Old, 



20 



INTRODUCTION. 



where it is called the Sea of Chlnnereth, of which Gennesareth 
is a corruption. The borders of the lake were in the time of 
Christ well peopled, having been covered with numerous 
towns and villages ; but now they are almost desolate, and 
the fish and water-fowl are but little disturbed. 

3. The Dead Sea, called also the Salt Sea, the Sea of 
Sodom, and the Asphaltic Lake [Lacus Asphaltitis), is from 
its size the most important, and from its histoiy and qualities 
the most remarkable, of all the lakes of Palestine. It has 
been assumed that this lake did not exist before the destruc- 
tion of Sodom and the other " cities of the plain" (Gren. six.) ; 
and that before that time the present bed of the lake was a 
fertile plain, in which those cities stood. It was also con- 
cluded that the river Jordan then flowed through this plain, 
and afterwards pursued its course through the great valley, of 
Arabah, to the eastern arm of the Eed Sea. These conclusions 
seem to be substantially correct. The results of the recent 
complete survey and soundings of the whole lake by the 
American Expedition under Lieut. Lynch, are in conformity 
with the inference one would draw from the Scriptural account, 
that the entire chasm was a plain, sunk and "overwhelmed" 
by the wrath of God. The bottom of the sea consists of two 
submerged plains, an elevated and a depressed one ; the 
former averaging thirteen, and the latter about thirteen hundred 
feet below the surface. In the northern, and largest and 
deepest one, in a line corresponding with the bed of the Jor- 
dan, is a ravine which corresponds with another at the south 
bed of the lake. In the Jordan itself, between the Jabbok 
and this lake, there is a sudden break down in the bed of the 
river ; and if there be a similar break in the water courses 
to the south of the Dead Sea, accompanied with like volcanic 
characters, there can scarcely be a doubt that the whole 
Grhor has sunk from some extraordinary convulsion, preceded 
most probably by an irruption of fire ; and a general conflagra- 
tion of the bitumen which abounded in the plain. 

The Dead Sea is about thirty-nine or forty geographical 
miles long from north to south, and nine or ten miles wide 
from east to west ; and it lies embedded very deep between 
lofty cliffs on the western side, which are about 1500 feet 
high, and mountains on the eastern shore, the highest ridges 



WATERS. 



21 



of which are reckoned to be from 2000 to 2500 feet above the 
water. The water of the lake is much Salter than that of the 
sea. From the quantity of salt which it holds in solution, 
it is thick and heavy, and no fish can live or marine plants 
grow in it. Even when subjected to a powerful microscope 
the water exhibits no trace of animalcule or of any animal 
matter. The old stories respecting the pestiferous qualities of 
the Dead Sea and its waters, are mere fables or delusions ; and 
actual appearances are the natural and obvious effects of the 
confined and deep situation, the intense heat, and the uncom- 
mon saltness of the waters. Lying in its deep cauldron, sur- 
rounded by lofty cliffs of naked limestone rock, exposed for 
seven or eight months in the year to the unclouded beams of 
a burning sun, nothing but sterility and solitude can be looked 
for upon its shores ; and nothing else is actually found, except 
in those parts where there are fountains or streams of fresh 
water ; in all such places there is a fertile soil and abundant 
vegetation. Birds also abound, and they are observed to fly 
over and across the sea without being, as old stories tell, in- 
jured or killed by its exhalations. The water, although un- 
pleasant, acrid, and greasy, is entirely inodorous. The 
noxious smells which pervade the shores are to be ascribed to 
the foetid springs and marshes along the shore, increased by 
exhalations from stagnant pools. Indeed, the saline and 
inodorous exhalations from the lake itself are probably rather 
wholesome than otherwise ; and as there is but little verdure 
upon the shores, there can be no vegetable exhalations to 
render the air impure. The evil to which the human frame 
is here subject, arises from the dangerous and depressing in- 
fluence of the intense concentrated heat, and from the acrid 
and clammy quality of the waters, producing a most irritated 
state of the skin, and eventually febrile symptoms, and great 
prostration of strength. 

On the borders of this lake is found much sulphur, in 
pieces as large as walnuts, and even larger. There is also a 
black shining stone, which will partly burn in the fire, and 
which then emits a bituminous smell : this is the " stink- 
stone" of Burckhardt. At Jerusalem it is made into rosaries 
and toys, of which great quantities are sold to the pilgrims 
who visit the sacred places. Another remarkable production, 



22 



INTRODUCTION. 



from which, indeed, the lake takes one of its names, is the 
asphaltum, or bitumen. Josephus says, that " the sea in 
many places sends up black masses of asphaltum, which float 
upon the surface, having the size and shape of headless oxen" 
(Joseph. Bell. Jud. iv. 8, 4). From recent information, it 
appears that large masses are rarely found, and then generally 
after earthquakes. The substance is doubtless produced from 
the bottom of the sea, in which it coagulates, and rises to the 
surface ; or possibly the coagulation may have been ancient, 
and the substance adheres to the bottom until detached by 
earthquakes and other convulsions, when its buoyancy brings 
it to the surface. We know that "the vale of Siddim" 
(Gen. xiv. 10), was anciently "full of slime-pits" or sources 
of bitumen ; and these, now under the water, probably supply 
the asphaltum which is found on such occasions. 



2?, 



SECTION IV.-CLIMATE AND SEASONS. 

1. The variations of sunshine and rain which, with us, 
extend throughout the year, are in Palestine confined chiefly 
to- the latter part of autumn and the winter. During all the 
rest of the year the sky is almost uninterruptedly cloudless, 
and rain very rarely falls. 

The autumnal rains usually commence at the latter end 
of October, or beginning of November ; not suddenly, but by 
degrees, which gives opportunity to the husbandman to sow 
his wheat and barley. The rains come mostly from the west 
(Luke xii. 54) and south-west, and continue for two or three 
days at a time, falling chiefly in the night ; the wind then 
changes to the north or east, and several clays of fine weather 
succeed. During the months of November and December the 
rains continue to fall heavily ; afterwards they return at 
longer intervals, and are not so heavy ; but at no period 
dming the winter do they entirely cease to occur. Kain con- 
tinues to fall more or less during the month of March, but is 
afterwards very rare. Morning mists occur as late as May, 
but rain almost never. Kain in the time of harvest was as 
incomprehensible to an ancient Jew as snow in summer (Prov. 
xxvi. 1; 1 Sam. xii. 17; Amos iv. 7). The "early" and 
the " latter" rains, for which the Jewish husbandmen awaited 
with longing (Prov. xvi. 15 ; James v. 7), seem to have 
been the first showers of autumn, which revived the parched 
and thirsty soil, and prepared it for the seed ; and the later 
showers of spring which continued to refresh and forward the 
ripening crops and the vernal products of the fields. 

2. The cold of winter is not severe, and the ground is 
never frozen. Snow falls more or less. In the low-lying 
plains but little falls, and it disappears early in the day ; in 
the higher lands, as at Jerusalem, it often falls, chiefly in 
January and February, to the depth of a foot or more ; but 
even there it does not lie long on the ground. Thunder and 
lightning are frequent in the winter. 

3. In the plains and valleys the heat of summer is op- 



24 



INTRODUCTION. 



pressive, but not in the more elevated tracts, as at Jerusalem, 
except when the south wind (Sirocco) blows (Luke xii. 55). 
In such high grounds the nights are cool, often with heavy 
dew. The total absence of rain in summer soon destroys the 
verdure of the fields, and gives to the general landscape, even 
in the high country, an aspect of drought and barrenness. 
No green thing remains but the foliage of the scattered fruit 
trees, and occasional vineyards and fields of millet. In 
autumn the whole land becomes dry and parched ; the cisterns 
are nearly empty, and all nature, animate and inanimate, 
looks forward with longing for the return of the rainy season. 

4. In the hill-country the season of harvest is later than 
in the plains of the Jordan and of the sea-coast. The barley 
harvest is about a fortnight earlier than that of wheat. In 
the plain of the Jordan the wheat harvest is early in May ; 
in the plains of the Coast and of Esdraelon it is towards the 
latter end of that month, and in the hills, not until June. 
The general vintage is in September, but the first grapes 
ripen in July, and from that time the towns are well supplied 
with this fruit. 

5. The climate of Palestine has always been considered 
healthy, and the inhabitants have generally enjoyed a high 
average duration of life. Jerusalem, in particular, from its 
great elevation, clear sky, and bracing atmosphere, should be 
a healthy spot, and is usually so esteemed. 



PAET II— AGRICULTURE AND PASTURAGE. 



SECTION I.-LAWS AND OPERATIONS. 



LAWS. 

1. It appeared to the Divine Wisdom, that the agricultural 
life was best suited to maintain the Israelites in that particu- 
lar position in which it was designed that they should be 
placed. A country well adapted to agriculture was, there- 
fore, given to them ; and laws were framed to encourage and 
to render necessary the culture of the ground, and, in some 
degree, to discourage other pursuits. That all might find an 
interest in the culture of the soil, every one had some land 
to cultivate. A plot of ground was given to every head of a 
family, which he had full power to cultivate as he pleased, 
and to transmit to his heirs. The difficulty was not in ac- 
quiring, but in alienating a possession in land. No one could 
dispossess himself of his lands for a longer time than to the 
next ensuing jubilee, which occurred every fifty years ; and 
if he disposed of his land for this limited period, himself, or 
his nearest relative, always retained the right of resuming 
possession, by paying the calculated value of the unexpired term 
up to the year of jubilee. As, by the original constitution, God 
himself was the political head of the state, and the sovereign 
proprietor of the soil, the land, thus secured to the heirs of 
the first proprietors, was exempt from any other rent-charges 
than the tithes and first-fruits which were offered to Him, 
and used by His servants — the priests and Levites (Lev. 
xxvii. 30 ; Deut. xii. 17-19 ; xiv. 22-29). As fields are 
not divided by hedges in the east, the stones which marked 
c 



26 



INTRODUCTION. 



the boundaries of lands (land-marks) were rendered inviolable 
by a solemn curse against whoever should remove them 
(Deut. xix. 14). All the inhabitants, except the priests and 
Levites, were considered by the laws, and were, for the most 
part, in fact, agriculturists, whether they dwelt in the country 
or in towns. This legislation had due effect ; for agriculture 
was long held in high honour, and persons of condition did 
not disdain to put their hand to the plough (1 Sam. xi. 5, 7 ; 
1 Kings xix. 19 ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 10). As luxury increased, 
this esteem for agriculture declined ; especially after the Cap- 
tivity, when many turned their attention towards merchandise 
and the mechanic arts. 

2. The Fallow Year. — That the Israelites might exercise 
trust in their Divine King ; that they might be trained to 
habits of economy and foresight ; and that the soil might not 
be exhausted, it was ordered that every seventh year should 
be a sabbath of rest to the land. There was to be no sowing 
nor reaping, no pruning of vines nor olives, no vintage nor 
gathering of fruits ; and whatever grew of itself was to be 
left to the poor, the stranger, and the beasts of the field (Lev. 
xxv. 1-7 ; Deut. xv. 1-10). But such an observance re- 
quired more faith than the Israelites were prepared to exer- 
cise ; it was for a long time utterly neglected (Lev. xxvi. 
34, 35 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21), but after the Captivity was 
more observed. 

3. Fertilization. — The soil of Palestine is, for the most 
part, very fertile, when the rains and dews of autumn and 
spring are not withheld. Water is the great fertilizing agent ; 
and therefore the ancient inhabitants were able, in' some parts, 
to avert the aridity which the summer droughts occasioned, 
and to keep up a garden-like verdure, by means of aqueducts 
communicating with the brooks and rivers (Psalm i. 3 ; lxv. 
10 ; Prov. xxi. 1 ; Isaiah xxx. 25 ; xxxii. 2, 20 ; Hosea xii. 
11). Hence springs, fountains, and rivulets, were as much 
esteemed by husbandmen as by shepherds (Josh. xv. 19 ; 
Judges i. 15). The soil was also cleared of stones, and 
carefully cultivated; and its fertility was increased by the 
ashes to which the dry stubble and herbage were occasion- 
ally reduced by burning over the surface of the ground (Prov. 
xxiv. 31 : Isaiah vii. 23 ; xxxii. 13). The dung and, in 



LAWS AND OPEKATIONS. 



27 



the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, the blood of animals, were 
also used to enrich the soil (2 Kings ix. 37 ; Psalm Ixxxiii. 
10; Isaiah xxv. 10; Jer. ix, 22; Luke xiv. 34, 35). 

4. Fields. — Under the term dagan, which we translate 
"grain," and "corn," the Hebrews comprehended almost 
every object of ^eM-culture. Syria, including Palestine, was 
regarded by the ancients as one of the first countries for corn. 
Wheat was abundant and excellent ; and there is still one 
bearded sort, the ear of which is three times as heavy, and con- 
tains twice as many grains, as our common English wheat. 
Barley was also much cultivated, not only for bread, but be- 
cause it was the only kind of corn which was given to beasts ; 
for oats and rye do not thrive in warm climates. Hay was 
not in use, and therefore the barley was mixed with chopped 
straw to form the food of beasts : this is what is called " pro- 
vender" in Scripture. Other objects of field-culture were millet, 
spelt, various kinds of 
beans and peas, pepper- 
wort, cummin, cucum- 
bers, melons, flax, and 
perhaps cotton. Many 
other articles might be 
mentioned as being now 
cultivated in Palestine, 
but, as their names do 
not occur in Scripture, 
it is difficult to know 
whether they were 
grown there in ancient 
times. 

5. Gardens. — The 
Israelites appear to have 
been fond of gardens, 
which, in the East, are 
chiefly planted with 
trees, with little regard 
to order or effect. As, however, the Egyptians were skilful 
florists, and laid out their gardens with care, introducing beds 
and borders of flowers, it is likely that the Israelites had 
some similar practices. Shade was chiefly sought ; and, that 




7. Garden House 



28 



INTRODUCTION. 



a double benefit might be realised, the shade of fruit trees 
was preferred. The more important gardens were named 
from the prevalence of certain trees in them ; as " the garden 
of nuts," "the garden of pomegranates," &c. (Sol. Song vi. 
11). The gardens owed all their freshness to the waters, of 
which they were never destitute (Num. xxiv. 6 ; Deut. xi. 10 ; 
Sol. Song iv. 15 ; Isaiah i. 30 ; lxvi. 17 ; Jer. xxxi. 12). So 
attached were the Israelites to their gardens, that they often 
had their sepulchres in them (2 Kings ix. 37 ; xxi. 18 ; 
Mark xv. 46). Trees were multiplied by seeds and shoots; 
they were transplanted, dug around, manured, and pruned 
(Job viii. 16 ; Isaiah xvii. 10) ; and the operation of graft- 
ing was well known (Rom. xi. 17). 



OPERATIONS AND IMPLEMENTS. 




8. Syrian Plough. 



1. Of late years much light has been thrown upon the 
agricultural operations and implements of ancient times by the 

discovery of various 
representations on 
the sculptured monu- 
ments and painted 
tombs of Egypt. As 
these agree surpris- 
ingly with the notices 
in the Bible, and, in- 
deed, differ little from 
the existing usages in Syria and Egypt, it is very safe to 
receive the instruction which they offer. 

2. Ploughing. — This has always been a light and super- 
ficial operation in the East. 
At first the ground was opened 
with pointed sticks ; then a 
kind of hoe was employed, 
and this, in many parts of the 
world, is still the substitute 
for a plough. But the plough 
was known in Egypt and Syria 9- Hoeing. 

before the Hebrews became cultivators (Job i. 14). In the 




LAWS AND OPERATIONS. 



29 



East, however, it has always been a light and inartificial 
implement. At first it was little more than a stout branch 
of a tree, from which 
projected another limb, 
shortened and pointed ; 
this being turned into the 
ground made the furrows, 
while at the further end 
of the larger branch was 
fastened a transverse yoke, 
to which the oxen were 




10. Ancient Egyptian Plough.. 




1. The plough. 2. The pole. 3. Shares (various). 
4. Handle. 5. Yokes. 6. Ox-uoad. 



harnessed. Afterwards a handle to guide the plough was 
added: thus the plough consisted of — 1, the pole ; 2, the point 

or share ; 3, the handle ; 
4, the yoke. The Sy- 
rian plough is, and 
doubtless was, light 
enough for a man to 
carry with one hand ; 
it was drawn by oxen, 
which were sometimes 
urged by a scourge 
(Isaiah x. 26 ; Nahum 
iii. 2), but oftener by 
a long staff, furnished at one end with a flat piece of metal 
for clearing the plough, and at the other with a spike for 
goading the oxen : this ox-goad might be easily used as a 
spear (Judges iii. 31 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 21). Sometimes men 
followed the plough with hoes to break the clods (Isaiah 
xxviii. 24) ; but in later times a kind of hammer was em- 
ployed, which appears to have been then, as now, merely a 
thick block of wood pressed down by a weight, or by a man 
sitting on it, and drawn over the ploughed field. 

3. Sowing. — The ground, having been ploughed as soon 
as the autumnal rains had mollified the soil, was fit, by the 
end of October, to receive the seed ; and the sowing of wheat 
continued, in different situations, through November and into 
December. Barley was not generally sown till January and 
February. The seed appears to have been sown and har- 
rowed at the same time ; although sometimes it was ploughed 



30 



INTRODUCTION. 




in by a cross farrow. The Egyptian paintings illustrate the 
Scriptures by shewing that the sower held the seed in 
^-r«=?^sss*w»». a basket, with one 

hand, and scattered 
it with the other ; 
while another per- 
son filled a fresh 
basket. We also see 
that the mode of 
sowing was what we 
, call "broad-cast," in 
which the seed is 
\ thrown loosely over 
the field (Matt. xiii. 
3-8). 

nn n 4. Reaping. — The 

12. Sowing. * , 

season oi harvest has 

been noticed (p. 23). Different modes of reaping are indi- 
cated in Scripture, and illustrated by the Egyptian monuments. 
In the most ancient times 
the corn was plucked up by 
the roots, which continued 
to be the practice with par- 
ticular kinds of grain after 
the sickle was known ; in 
Egypt, at this day, barley 
and dourra are pulled up by 
the roots. When the sickle 
was used, the wheat was either cropped off under the ear, or 
cut close to the ground ; in the former case the straw was 

afterwards plucked up for 
use, in the latter the stub- 
ble was left and burnt in 
the ground for manure. 
As the Egyptians needed 
not such manure, and were 
economical of straw, they 
generally followed the for- 
Reaping. mer method; while the 

Israelites, whose lands derived benefit from the burnt stubble, 




Plucking Corn. 




LAWS AND OPERATIONS. 



31 




15. Binding Corn. 



used the latter, although the practice of cutting off the ears 
was also known to them (Job xxiv. 2-4). Cropping the ears 
short, the Egyptians 
did not generally bind 
them into sheaves, 
but removed them in 
baskets. Sometimes 
they bound them into 
double sheaves ; and 
such as they plucked 
up were bound into 
long sheaves. The 
Israelites appear always to have made up their corn into 
sheaves (Gen. xxxvii. 7 ; Lev. xxiii. 10-15 ; Euth ii. 7, 15 ; 

Job xxiv. 10 ; Jer. ix. 
22 ; Mic. iv. 12), which 
were collected into a 
heap, or removed in a 
cart (Amos ii. 13) to 
the threshing-floor. The 
reapers were the owners 
and their children, men 
and women - servants, 
and hired day-labourers, 
(Ruth ii. 4, 8, 21, 23 ; John iv. 36 ; James v. 4). Refresh- 
ments were provided for them, especially drink, of which the 
gleaners were often 
allowed to partake 
(Ruth ii. 9); so, in 
the Egyptian scenes, 
we see reapers drink- 
ing, and the gleaners 
applying to share the 
draught. Among the 





Reapers Drinking. 



Israelites, gleaning was one of the stated provisions for the 
poor ; and for their benefit the corners of the fields were left 
unreaped, and the reapers might not return for a forgotten 
sheaf. Gleaners could not, however, force themselves upon 
a particular field, without the consent of the owner (Lev. xix. 
9, 10 ; Deut. xxiv. 19 ; Ruth ii. 2). 



INTRODUCTION. 




5. Threshing. — The ancient mode of threshing, as de- 
scribed in Scripture, and figured on the Egyptian monuments, 
is still preserved in Palestine. Formerly the sheaves were 
conveyed from the field to the threshing-floor in carts, but 
now they are borne generally on the backs of camels and 

asses. The thresh- 
ing-floor is a level 
plot of ground, of a 
circular shape, gene- 
rally about fifty feet 
in diameter, prepared 
for use by beating 
clown the earth till a 
hard floor is formed 
(Gen. 1. 10 ; Judges vi. 37 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 24) ; some- 
times several of these floors are contiguous to each other. 
The sheaves are spread out upon them, and the grain is 
trodden out by oxen, cows, and young cattle, arranged five 
abreast, and driven in a, circle, or rather in all directions, 
over the floor. This was the common mode in Bible times ; 
and Moses forbade that the oxen thus employed should be 
muzzled to prevent them from tasting the corn (Deut. xxv. 4; 
Isaiah xxviii. 28). Flails, or sticks, were only used in thresh- 
ing small quantities, or for the lighter kinds of grain (Euth 
ii. 17 ; Isaiah xxviii. 27). There were, however, some kinds 
of threshing-machines, which are still employed in Palestine and 
Egypt. One of them, 

represented in the ^^A^ ^gT>^ 
annexed figure, is 
very much used in 
Palestine. It is com- 
posed of two thick 
planks, fastened to- 
gether side by side, 
and bent upward hi 
front ; sharp fragments of stone are fixed into holes bored in 
the bottom. This machine is drawn over the corn by oxen, 
a man or boy sometimes sitting on it to increase the weight ; 
it not only separates the grain, but cuts the straw and makes 
it fit for fodder (2 Kings xiii. 7). This is most probably the 




19. Corn-Drag. 



LAWS AND OPERATIONS. 



38 



corn- drag which is mentioned in Scripture (Isaiah xxviii. 27 ; 
xli. 15; Amos i. 3, rendered "threshing-instrument"), and 
would seem to have been sometimes furnished with iron points 
instead of stones. The Bible also notices a machine called a 
moreg (2 Sam. xxi. 22 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 23 ; Isaiah xli. 15), 



which is unquestion- 
ably the same which 
still in Arabic bears 
the name of noreg ; 
and which, although 
not now seen in Pales- 
tine, is common in 
Egypt. It is a sort 
of frame of wood, in 
which are inserted 




three wooden rollers, armed with iron teeth, &c; it bears a 
sort of seat or chair, in which the driver sits to give the 
benefit of his weight ; it is generally drawn over the corn by 
two oxen, and separates the grain and breaks up the straw 
even more effectually than the drag. In all these processes 
the corn is occasionally turned by a fork, and when sufficiently 
threshed is thrown up by the same fork against the wind to 
separate the grain, which is then gathered up and winnowed. 

6. Winnowing. — This was generally accomplished by 
repeating the process of tossing up the grain against the wind 



7. Corn-stores. — The unwinnowed grain was originally 
kept in subterranean storehouses, and even in caverns ; but, 
in process of time, granaries were built both in Egypt and 
Palestine (Gen. xli. 35 ; Exod. i. 11 ; 1 Chron. xxvii. 25). 




21. 



with a fork (Jer. iv. 11, 12), by 
which the broken straw and chaff 
were dispersed and the grain fell 
to the ground. The grain after- 
wards passed through a sieve, to 
separate the bits of earth and 
other impurities ; after this it 
underwent a still further purifi- 
cation, by being tossed up with 
wooden scoops, or short-handled 
shovels, such as we see in Egyp- 



tian paintings (Isaiah xxx. 24). 



SECTION II.— PRINCIPAL VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 



VINES AND VINEYARDS. 

1. Palestine was very much celebrated for its vines, 
and for the wine which they afforded ; they still grow exceed- 
ingly well, from one end of the country to the other ; and 
both the clusters and the grapes are often of very large size 
(Num. xiii. 23). Clusters weighing ten or twelve pounds, 
and grapes as large as prunes, are mentioned by travellers. 
The varieties differ, of course, in size, as well as in quality, 
and the largest are not necessarily the best. A small white 
grape is, indeed, considered the best that grows in that quarter, 
and may be the celebrated " vine of Sorek." The grapes of 
Palestine are mostly black and red varieties ; hence the wine 
was generally red, whence arose the phrase " blood of grapes" 
(Gen. xlix. 11 ; Deut. xxxii. 14 ; Isaiah xxvii. 2). 

2. Vineyards. — The modes of cultivation were, and still 
are, various. In general the sides of hills were preferred ; 
and Lebanon was particularly famous for its vines and wines 
(Hosea xiv. 7). The hill-side vineyards often rose in suc- 
cessive terraces, faced with stone, which collected and retained 
the soil brought down from the higher parts by the rains; 
this continues to be the prevalent mode for all kinds of culti- 
vation in Lebanon, and there are still large traces of it in the 
hills of Palestine (Isaiah v. 1 ; Jer. xxxi. 5 ; Joel iii. 18 ; 
Amos ix. 13 ; Micah i. 6). In Lebanon, and some other 
parts, the vine is allowed to run along the groimd, like the 
cucumber (Ezek. xvii. 6, 7). Sometimes several vines are 
so planted as to support one another, by being fastened 
together at the top, so as to form a kind of cone. In other 
cases they grow without support, having stout stems and 
extensive branches, which the Israelites used often to prop 
and train, so as to form a pleasant shade. Hence, " sitting 
under one's own vine," is a frequent phrase for a state of 
repose and comfort (1 Kings iv. 25 ; Hosea ii. 12 ; Mic. iv. 



PRINCIPAL VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 



35 



4 ; Zech. iii. 10). In many of the vineyards there are still 
watch-towers of stone, ronnd or square, from ten to fifteen or 
twenty feet high, in which keepers are stationed, during the 
season of the grape, to protect the fruit from injury or pillage 
(Isaiah v. 2 ; Matt. xxi. 33). The passing traveller was 
allowed to pluck and eat grapes from the way-side vineyards, 
but not to carry them away in his vessel (Deut. xxiii. 24). 
Many minute allusions to processes in the culture of the vine 
manifest the very great attention which was paid to it by the 
ancient Hebrews. There are fine allegories based upon this 
culture in Psalm lxxx. 8-15 ; Isaiah v. 1-7 ; xxvii. 2-6 ; 
Matt. xxi. 33-41. 

3. Vintage. — Grapes may always be had after June, but 
the regular vintage does not begin until the middle of Sep- 
tember, and is not over everywhere until the middle of 
November. The gleanings of the vineyard, as well as of the 
corn-field, were left 
to the poor (Lev. 
xix. 10). The vint- 
age was a season of 
gladness (Judges ix. 
27 ; Isaiah xvi. 10 ; 
Jer. xxv. 30; xlviii. 
33) ; and, with loud 
shouts and other 
signs of rejoicing, the 
grapes were plucked 
off and carried to the 
wine - press, which 
was generally in the 
vineyard (Isaiah v. 
2; Hag. h. 16; Zech. 
xiv. 10 ; Matt. xxi. 
33;Eev.xiv.l9,20). 

The Wine-presses 
were either formed 
with stones, and 
covered with an insoluble cement, or were, in certain situa- 
tions, hewn out of the rock, forming an elevated reservoir, 
into which the grapes were thrown, and were trodden upon 




22. Wine-Press. 



36 



INTRODUCTION. 



by men to press out the juice. The expressed juice flowed 
through gratings or apertures into a lower receptacle outside, 
or into large vessels of stone or earthenware. From the 
Egyptian paintings, we see that a beam was temporarily 
erected over the press, from which thongs were suspended, by 
which the men held on as they trod the grapes, and which 
must have been a great support to them in their work. 
Although laborious, this work was performed with great ani- 
mation — with songs, and with a shout or cry, peculiar to the 
occasion ; and was sometimes accompanied by instrumental 
music (Isaiah xvi. 9, 10 ; Jer. xxv. 30 ; xlviii. 32, 33). 

4. The Olive Tree. — The olive rarely becomes a large 
tree, and its dull whitish foliage does not deserve the name 

of verdure ; but there 
was no tree more 
honoured by the Is- 
raelites, or more truly 
valuable to them. It 
was an object of 
special culture in 
plantations or " olive 
yards," for the sake 
of the valuable oil 
obtained from the 
fruit. This oil is 
drawn, not from the 
kernel, as with most 
other vegetable oils, 
but from the fleshy 
part (pericarp) of the 
fruit. Vast quanti- 
ties were obtained ; 
and it was not only 
used profusely, with 
food, for light, and for anointings, but large quantities re- 
mained for traffic with the Tyrians and others (Ezek. xxvii. 
17). The oil, like the juice of the grape, appears to have 
been extracted by treading (Mic. vi. 15). The fruit itself 
does not seem to have been commonly eaten. The olive is 
an evergreen tree, and although small, singly, two or three 




PRINCIPAL VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 37 

minks frequently rise from the same root. It is from twenty 
to thirty feet high, and the branches are numerous and very 
widely extended. The Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem, was 
so named from the numerous olive trees that once grew there ; 
and some remarkable old olive trees are still found thereon. 

5. The Fig Tree. — Fig trees were common in Palestine. 
They are tall but irregular trees, whose expanded shade was 
deemed very pleasant (1 Kings iv. 25 ; Mic. iv. 4). The 
fig tree sprouts at the vernal equinox, and affords three crops 
of fruit, the first of which (called the Untimely Fig) appears 
before the leaves in spring, and ripens about the end of June 
(Matt. xxi. 19 ; Mark xi. 13) ; this has the best flavour 
(Jer. xxiv. 2), and is eaten green. The others are dried in 
the sun, and preserved in masses, or, as they are called in 
the Bible, "cakes" of figs (1 Sam. xxv. 18; xxx. 12; 2 
Kings xx. 7 ; 1 Chron. xii. 40). 

6. The Sycamore, or rather the Sycamore Fig Tree, is 
not the common sycamore. It is a large tree, with leaves 
like the mulberry, 
and fruit not unlike 
the fig, to which joint 
resemblance it owes 
its name. It is more 
common, and grows 
larger, in Egypt than 
in Palestine. The 
trunk is often very 
thick, and the bran- 
ches spread out wide- 
ly, affording a most 
ample shade. The 
wood is light and un- 
substantial, but lasts 
a long while, and was 
much used in build- 
ing by the Hebrews 
(as by the Egyptians) 
till they found means 
of getting cedar wood from Lebanon (1 Kings x. 21). The 
fruit grows out of the trunk of the tree, in clusters, and chiefly 




24. Sycamore Pig. 



38 



INTRODUCTION. 



differs from a fig in the absence of seeds, and in a cloying 
sweetness not much relished by Europeans ; the tree yields 
several successive crops during the year, but the fruit will not 
ripen without being wounded by the cultivators ; this was an 
employment of the prophet Amos (chap. vii. 14). We learn 
from 1 Chron. xxvii. 28, that the tree was largely cultivated 
in Palestine, doubtless for the fruit. 

7. The Almond Tree grows extensively in Palestine, and 
forms a handsome and picturesque tree. It blossoms in 



This famous tree is now but rarely seen in Palestine, although 
in former times it was so abundant as to be made the symbol 
of that country. It was, however, confined to the plains and 
valleys, and was most frequent in the valley of the Jordan, 
and the plain of the Coast (Lev. xxiii. 40 ; Deut. xxxiv. 3 ; 
Judges i. 16 ; iii. 13 ; iv. 5). This tree, with its straight 
and lofty stem without branches, but crowned by a splendid 
tuft of evergreen foliage, was justly admired by the Hebrews, 
who carved it in ornamental work (1 Kings vi. 32), made 
it the symbol of a beautiful person (Sol. Song vii. 8), and 




25. Almond Tree. 



winter ; which fact, to- 
gether with the white- 
ness of the blossoms, 
furnished the Hebrew 
poets with a beautiful 
emblem of old age 
(Eccles. xii. 5). The 
nut of the almond, and 
the oil of that nut, are 
well known to us ; the 
former is the kernel of 
a fruit unfit to be 
eaten. The almond 
was considered one of 
the distinguishing pro- 
ducts of Palestine 
(Gen. xliii. 11) ; and 
the branches of the 
tree furnished rods of 
office (Num. xvii. 8). 



8. The Palm.— 



PKINCLPAL VEGETABLE PEODUCTS. 



39 



also of a religious upright man (Psalm i. 3 ; xcii. 12). It 
was also the symbol of victory (Rev. vii. 9). At the Feast of 
Tabernacles the Jews 
bore palm -branches 
in their hands (Lev. 
xxiii. 40) ; and they 
strewed them in the 
path of kings, as they 
publicly entered their 
cities (Matt. xxi. 8). 
The palm produces 
large clusters of dates, 
which become ripe in 
autumn, and which 
are consumed in vari- 
ous ways — fresh, pre- 
served, or dried ; and 
form no small part of 
man's food in south- 
western Asia. In 2 
Chron. xxxi. 5 [mar- 
gin], " dates " are 
mentioned along with 
" corn, wine, and oil," as among the principal products of 
Palestine. 

9. The Terebinth Tree is one of the most common forest 
trees of Palestine. Its name does not appear in our Bibles ; 
but it is supposed to be intended in words which are trans- 
lated "a plain" and "an oak." It is a long-lived but 
moderately- sized tree, with branches very extensive, and head 
very large in proportion to the trunk. It is an ever-green ; 
the leaves, like those of the olive, being of a green colour 
intermixed with red and purple. The name of Terebinth 
tree, or Turpentine tree, is from the turpentine which exudes 
from the trunk when the bark is wounded. There was, for- 
merly, a very large and very old terebinth tree in the valley 
of Mamre, near Hebron, around which a great fair was held, 
in the belief that the angels were entertained beneath its 
shade by Abraham (Gen. xviii. 4). A noble old oak is now 
found near the same place. 




26. Palm Tree. 



40 INTRODUCTION. 

10. The Pistachio Tree which is allied to the terebinth, 
afforded the "nuts" which Jacob sent to Egypt, as one of 

the most valued pro- 
ducts of the land of 
Canaan (Gen. xliii. 
11). This smooth- 
shelled nut, with its 
green kernel, grows 
in clusters, and is no- 
where finer than in 
Syria. The tree which 
yields them is from 
twenty to thirty feet 
high, and is by no 
means remarkable for 
its beauty. But it in- 
terests the traveller 
from being found in 
such places as on 
Mount Tabor, and on 
the very top of the 
mountain (Attains, 
probably the same as Nebo), supposed to be that from which 
Moses surveyed the Promised Land (Deut. xxxiv. 1). 

11. The Mulberry Tree was evidently very common in 
Palestine formerly, as it is still (2 Sam. v. 23, 24 ; 1 Chron. 
xiv. 14, 15), although all parts of the country are not equally 
favourable to its growth. In and under Lebanon the mul- 
berry tree is largely cultivated for the sake of its leaves, as 
the food of silk- worms, and is cropped and dressed so as to 
afford the greatest quantity ; but in the gardens of Palestine 
it is allowed to grow after its own fashion. In the East it is 
very common to have trees growing in the courts of houses, 
and in Palestine these are often mulberry trees. 

12. The Pomegranate Tree. — This is a thick and bushy 
fruit tree, with thorny twigs, rising twenty feet high. The 
fruit is about the size of an orange, and contains within its 
hard, leathery, and reddish-brown rind, many orderly 'rows of 
seeds or grains, invested with a red and lustrous pulp, which 
gives them the appearance of rubies. This pulp affords the 




PRINCIPAL VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 



41 



pleasant juice for the sake of which the grains are eaten ; 
and of which various pleasant and refreshing summer drinks 
are made (Num. xx. 5 ; Deut. viii. 8 ; Sol. Song iv. 13 ; 
vi. 11 ; vii. 12. The fruit was much esteemed by the Jews, 
and was imitated by them in their ornamental works (Exod. 
xxviii. 33, 34; 1 Kings vii. 18). 

13. The Cedar Tree which is so often mentioned in the 
Bible, is rather a tree of the Lebanon mountains than of 
Palestine generally. 
In those mountains 
many groves of ce- 
dars, of all sizes and 
ages, have, of late 
years, been discover- 
ed. Formerly, one 
grove, which lies 
high up, not far 
from the northern 
and, perhaps, highest 
summit of the moun- 
tains, was regarded 
as the only remnant 
of the ancient cedars 
of Lebanon, and was, 
as such, visited and 
described by various 
travellers. It still 
contains the largest 
and most ancient 
trees which have been found, together with many of inferior 
age and size. Altogether there are some hundreds of trees 
in this famous grove, and the number seems rather to increase 
than diminish. The largest of the trees is about forty feet 
in circumference, and several others are nearly as large. In 
some instances several trees have grown together, and now 
form one. The Israelites being but poorly furnished with 
timber trees, were glad to get cedar wood, for building, from 
Lebanon, through the Phoenicians of Tyre, who brought it 
along the coast in floats, and landed it at Joppa (1 Kings v. 
6, 10 ; ix. 11 ; 2 Chron. i. 15 ; ii. 8 ; Ezra iii. 7). 

o2 




42 



SECTION IIL-PASTOBAL LIFE AND ANIMALS. 



PASTURES. 

1. In the first period of their history the Hebrews led an 
unsettled pastoral life, such as we still find among- many Oriental 
tribes. One great object of the Mosaical polity was to turn 
them from this condition into that of fixed cultivators of the 
soil. Pasturage was, however, only discouraged as a condition 
of life, unfriendly to settled habits and institutions, and not 
as a pursuit connected with agriculture. Hence, although in 
later times the principal attention of the Hebrews was given 
to agriculture, the tending of sheep and cattle was not at any 
time neglected. 

2. The shepherds who move about with their flocks from 
one pasture-ground to another according to the demands of 
the season, the state of the herbage, and the supply of water, 
are called nomads — that is, not merely shepherds, but wan- 
dering shepherds. They feed their flocks in the " commons," 
or the deserts and wildernesses, which no settled or cultivating 
people have appropriated. At first, no pastoral tribe can have 
any particular property in such tracts of ground in, preference 
to another tribe; but, in the end, a particular tract- becomes 
appropriated to some one tribe, or section of a tribe, either 
from long occupation, or from digging wells therein. Accord- 
ing to the ideas of the East, the digging of a well is so meri- 
torious an act, that he who performs it acquires a property in 
the waste-lands around. In the time of the patriarchs, Pa- 
lestine was but thinly peopled by the Canaanites, and offered 
many such tracts of unappropriated grounds fit for pasturage. 
In these they fed their flocks, without establishing any exclu- 
sive claims to the soil, until they proceeded to dig Wells, which, 
being considered as an act of appropriation, was opposed by 
some of the inhabitants (Gen. xxi. 25, 26). After the con- 
quest of Canaan, those Israelites who possessed large flocks 



PASTORAL LIFE AND ANIMALS. 



43 



and herds, sent them out, under the care of shepherds, into 
the " wildernesses," or commons, of the east and south, where 
there are rich and juicy pasturages during the moist seasons 
of the year (1 Sam. xvii. 28 ; xxv. 4, 15 ; 1 Chron. xxvii. 
29-31 ; Isaiah lxv. 10 ; Jer. 1. 39). The nomads occupy, 
successively, the same stations in the deserts every year. In 
summer, when the plains are parched with drought, and every 
green herb is dried up, they proceed northwards, or into the 
mountains, or to the banks of rivers ; and in winter and 
spring, when the rains have re- clothed the plains with verdure, 
and filled the water-courses, they return. When these pastors 
remove, they strike their tents, pack them up, and convey 
them on camels to the next station. Nearly all the pastoral 
usages were the same, anciently, as now. The sheep were 
constantly kept in the open air, and guarded by hired servants, 
and by the sons and daughters of the owners. Even the 
daughters of emirs, or chiefs, did not disdain to tend the sheep 
(Gen. xxiv. 17-20 ; xxix. 9 ; Exod. ii. 16). 
The principal shepherd was responsible for 
the sheep intrusted to his care, and if any 
were lost he had to make them good, ex- 
cept in certain cases (Gen. xxxi. 39 ; Exod. 
xxii. 12 ; Amos iii. 12). Their services 
were often paid by a certain proportion of 
the young of the flock (Gen. xxx. 30). On 
the more dangerous stations, towers were 
erected, from which the approach of ene- 
mies might be discovered. These were 
called the Towers of the Flock (Gen. xxxv. 21 ; 2 Chron. 
xxvi. 10 ; Micah iv. 8). 

3. Waters. — Water is even more than usually necessary 
in warm regions, especially to those who have many cattle ; 
and, being very scarce, especially in the plains and deserts, 
it is highly valued, and very frugally used (Num. xx. 17-19; 
Deut. ii. 6, 28; Job xxii. 7). Hence, wells and cisterns 
are dug by the nomads, at the places which they frequent ; 
and these wells being formed with great labour, by a rude 
people, are objects of much solicitude and care. We have 
already alluded to the property in the land which is thus ac- 
quired. A well is invariably the property of the party by 



29. Tower. 



44 



INTRODUCTION. 



whom, or at whose cost, it was dug ; and is inherited by his 
descendants. No stranger has any right to draw water from 
it, without the permission of the owner ; and for this he 
generally expects payment (Num. xx. 17-19). It appears 
that sometimes the wells were owned by a number of pastors 
in common, and that the flocks were brought to them on ap- 
pointed days, in an order previously arranged. A well was 
often covered with a great stone, which being removed, the 
person descended some steps to the surface of the water, and, 
on his return, poured into a trough that which he had brought 
up (Gen. xxiv. 11-15; xxix. 3-10; Exod. ii. 16; Judges 
v. 11). But as this process was only applicable where the 
well was not deep, and we must assume that the Israelites 
had the use of the same contrivances for raising water which 
we still find in operation in the East, and the antiquity of 
most of which is evinced by the Egyptian paintings and 
sculptures. From the deeper kind of well, the water is 
usually drawn by hand in a leathern bucket — sometimes by 
the aid of a windlass, but oftener, where the well is only of 
moderate depth, by the shadoof, which is the most common 

and simple of all the 
machines used in the 
East for raising water, 
whether from wells, re- 
servoirs, or rivers. This 
is a tapering lever un- 
equally balanced upon 
an upright stem, and to 
the smaller end of which 
the bucket is attached by the rope. The weight of the 
larger end balancing the laden bucket, it is drawn up with 
ease, the only care being to regulate its ascent. The water 
of wells, as well as of fountains, was called by the Hebrews 
" living water" (translated " running water"), and was highly 
esteemed (Lev. xiv. 5 ; Num. xix. 17). This epithet was 
not applied to the waters preserved in cisterns and other 
reservoirs. 

4. Cisterns. — These were large reservoirs, in which the 
waters from rain and melted snows were collected, and re- 
served for use in the season of drought. They sometimes 




PASTORAL LIFE AND ANIMALS. 



45 



occur as large subterraneous vaults, perhaps an acre in extent, 
but with a very small mouth, or entrance. In cities, they 
were very elaborate works, being often hewn out of the solid 
rock, or lined with masonry, covered with a firm incrustation, 
on which water had no effect. Eemains of such cisterns are 
still found in Palestine, especially in the country beyond 
Jordan. The cisterns of the open country, intended for the 
pastors and their flocks, when they have received their supply 
of water, have often the mouth covered with large flat stones, 
over which sand is spread, so that strangers may pass with- 
out being aware of the treasure beneath their feet. Some- 
times, however, the owners, on returning from distant stations, 
find then cisterns without water, either from then having 
been broken by earthquakes or other causes, or from their 
having been discovered and rifled of their precious contents. 
In such cases, the shepherd and his flocks are in a situation 
of great danger ; and hence, a failure of this description is 
used as an image of any great calamity (Isaiah xli. 17, 18 ; 
xliv. 3). As there is often a large deposit of mud at the 
bottom of these cisterns, a miserable death awaits any who 
fall into them (Gren. xxxvii. 22, &c. ; Psalm xL 2 ; lxix. 15 ; 
Jer. xxxviii. 6 ; Lam. hi. 53). Cisterns, when empty of 
water, r were very often used as prisons, and as such were very 
secure. 

FLOCKS AND HERDS. 

A brief view of the flocks and herds of the Israelites, will 
shew the kinds of animals most common among them, before, 
as well as after, they ceased to be a nomad people. 

5. Sheep. — In Scripture mention is made of different 
species and varieties of sheep. At present, the chief breeds 
in the country are the broad-tailed and the common horned 
white. The latter resembles the horned breed of continental 
Europe, but with a somewhat thicker and larger tail. It is 
often black and white about the face and feet, but is seldom 
otherwise black, and sheep wholly black of any breed are and 
were uncommon (Psalm cxlvii. 16 ; Isaiah i. 18 ; Daniel 
vii. 9). The other breed is chiefly valued for the fat of their 
broad tails, which tastes very much like marrow. The flesh 



INTRODUCTION. 



of neither breed is remarkably delicate, nor is the wool of 
peculiar fineness. Mutton is, and always has been, the prin- 
cipal animal food used in the East, on which account, as well 

as for the milk and the 
wool, sheep were held in 
high estimation. Some- 
times one person owned 
many thousands of them 
(Job i. 3 ; 1 Sam. xxv. 2 ; 
1 Chron. v. 21). Sheep- 
shearings were great fes- 
tivals (1 Sam. xxv. 2, 4, 
8; 2 Sam. xiii. 23). On 
such occasions, the sheep 
were collected within uncovered enclosures, which are the 
"sheepfolds" mentioned in Scripture; for there are no other 
sheepfolds in the East (Num. xxxii. 16, 24, 36 ; 2 Sam. vii. 8; 
Zeph. ii. 6). 

6. Goats were comprehended with sheep under the gene- 
ral term of "flock," both being commonly pastured together, 
as is still the case in Palestine. There are two varieties or 
species of the goat in 
Palestine : — one of them 
differs little from the 
common goat ; the other 
is distinguished by its 
larger size, and still more 
by its very long, hang- 
ing ears (Amos hi. 12), 
and by the ram-like ap- 
pearance of its horns 
and head. The hair is 
long, and almost inva- 
riably black. The " wild goats," mentioned in Scripture, 
were, probably, the ibex and the kebsch, both of which are 
still found in the mountains in or near Palestine. The first 
is well known ; the latter is remarkable for the long pendant 
mane with which its front is furnished. The milk of goats 
was more esteemed than that of any other animal (Prov. 
xxvii. 27), and the flesh was much liked, especially that of 




31. Syrian. Sheep. 




PASTORAL LIFE AND ANIMALS. 



47 



the kids. The hair was woven into tent- coverings ; and the 
entire skins formed vessels, or " skin bottles," in which water 
was carried. Smaller ^ 



7. Oxen. — Animals of this kind belong rather to the 
agricultural than the pastoral condition of life ; and do not, 
therefore, figure in the possessions of the modern nomads of 
Western Asia. In this respect, the patriarchal fathers more 
resembled the Eastern Tartars, for they had large possessions 
of black cattle (Gen. xxiv. 35 ; Job i. 3). In after-times, 
oxen are more frequently mentioned in connexion with agri- 
cultural life. The richest pastures were those of Bashan, 
Sharon, and Achor ; and the well-fed bulls of Bashan were 
particularly strong and ferocious (Dent, xxxiii. 17 ; Psalm 
xxii. 12; lxviii. 30; Prov. xiv. 4; Isaiah xxxiv. 7). Oxen 
were employed in carrying burdens, as well as in drawing 
ploughs and carts. Beef is now but little used in the East ; 
but considerable quantities appear to have been consumed by 
the Israelites. Veal also was more in use than now, and 
"the fatted calf" was often slaughtered for a feast (Gen. 
xviii. 7 ; Luke xv. 23). Cheese was made from the milk 
of cows (2 Sam. xvii. 29) ; but for drinking, goat's milk was 
preferred. At present there are two principal breeds of oxen 
in Syria ; both short-horned, but one larger, and having 
longer legs than the other. There are also buffaloes, and the 
wild ox is still found in the bordering deserts. 

8. Camels. — There are two species of camels ; one with 
a single hump, and the other with two. The camel so often 
mentioned in Scripture, is that with the single hump ; the 
other was, probably, scarcely known to the Israelites, as it 
belongs rather to central than to western Asia. The Drome- 



vessels, made of kid- 
skins, were in very 
common use. When 
the vessel was intended 
for water, the side on 
which the hair grew 
was tinned inward ; 
when for wine, that 
side was turned out- 
ward. 




33. Water- Skins. 



48 



INTRODUCTION. 




dary is merely a finer and swifter breed of the camel, used 
exclusively for riding (Isaiah lx. 6 ; lxvi. 20 ; Jer. ii. 23). 
The camel can endure much abstinence from food and water, 

by which, and by its 
other habits, it is 
adapted, as by the 
special destination 
of Providence, to 
traverse the deserts, 
in which much pri- 
vation must be sus- 
tained. Its broad 
and well- cushioned 
foot is also peculiar- 
ly suited to tread the 
hard, dry, gravelly 
soil of the desert. 
Hence, this animal 
is the favourite and the most valued beast of the nomads, 
who now, as in the times of Scripture, possess large numbers 
of them (Gen. xxiv. 10 ; xxxi. 17 ; 1 Sam. xxx. 17 ; 1 Kings 
x. 2; Isaiah xxx. 6 ; Ezek. xxv. 4). The milk is much used, 
chiefly in a sour or thickened state, and the flesh is eaten by 
the Arabs, though it 

was forbidden to the ^ j| 

Jews (Lev. xi. 4). 
The hah", which is 
shed yearly, is made 
into a kind of coarse 
cloth, of which robes 
are made, such as 
John the Baptist 
wore (Matt. iii. 4). 
Camels were used 
to carry all kinds 
of burthens (Gen. 
xxxvii. 25 ; Judges 
vi. 5 ; 2 Kings viii. 9 ; 1 Chron. xii. 40 ; 2 Chron. xiv. 15), 
and also for riding (Gen. xxiv. 61 ; xxxi. 17 ; 1 Sam. xxx. 17). 
The travellers sit astride, on a proper riding camel, as on 




Arabian Camel : saddle- 



PASTORAL LIFE AND ANIMALS. 



49 




36. Do-able Camel Litter. 



horseback; or squat in a peculiar fashion on the luggage. 
Great persons, the sick, and women, sometimes journey at 
ease in a covered litter, 
or sort of tent, which 
is secured upon the 
camel's back ; or else 
two persons balance 
each other in covered 
cribs, or cradles, slung 
over the camel's back, 
after the manner of 
panniers. The camels on which wealthy persons ride, are 
often garnished with chains and other rich ornaments of metal 
(Judges viii. 21, 26). 

9. Horses were not much used among the more ancient 
Israelites ; and, as they were then employed chiefly in war- 
like enterprises, the rearing 
of them was discouraged by 
the law (Deut. xvii. 16). The 
horses of Egypt are the ear- 
liest mentioned (Gen. xlvii. 
17), and that country was 
always noted for its horses. 
Joshua encountered chariots 
and horses in northern Pales- 
tine (Josh. xi. 4-9) ; and not 
long after we find them in 
use among the Philistines (Judges i. 19 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 5). 
David reserved some of the horses and chariots which he 
captured in his wars (2 Sam. viii. 4 ; 1 Chron. xviii. 4) ; 
and there are frequent allusions to these animals, and to 
equestrian troops, in the book of Psalms. Solomon established 
a large trade with Egypt for chariots and horses (1 Kings x. 
28 ; 2 Chron. i. 16, 17) ; and after his time horses are often 
mentioned, but chiefly as connected with the state and the 
army, for they were never much in use by private persons. 
A piece of cloth served instead of a saddle, and stirrups were 
not known ; but a bridle and curb were in use (Psalm xxxii. 
9). As horses were not shod, a hard hoof was much esteemed 
(Isaiah v. 28 ; Amos vi. 12). 




Single Camel Litter. 



50 



INTRODUCTION*. 




10. Asses. — In the East, when properly trained and cared 
for, the ass is a fine and even elegant animal, while it is still 
patient and diligent. Hence, its name is applied in Scripture 

not, as with us, to 
characterise doltish 
or obstinate, but in- 
dustrious and active 
men (Gen. xlix. 14). 
Before horses were 
used by the Israel- 
ites, and while they 
were employed chief- 
ly in war, all peace- 
ful operations were 
carried on by means 
of asses. Persons of 
the first consequence 
rode on them (Gen, 

xxii. 3, 5 ; Xum. xxii. 21, 30 ; Josh. xv. 18 ; Judges i. 14 : 
v. 10 ; x. 4 ; xii. 14 ; 1 Sam. xxv. 20, 42 ; 2 Sam. xvii. 23 
xix. 26; 1 Kings ii. 40; xiii. 13 ; 2 Kings iv. 22, 24; Zech 
ix. 9 ; Matt. xxi. 1-7). When the Jews returned from the 
Babylonish captivity, there were in their caravan no fewer 
than 6720 asses, but 
not more than 736 
horses and 245 mules, 
and only 435 camels 
(Ezra ii. 66, 67). 
White asses, which 
are less uncommon 
in the East than with 
us. were much ad- 
mired (Judges v. 10). 
When a person of 
consequence, or a 
lady, rode forth, a 
servant followed to 
urge the beast occasionally with his staff (Judges xix. 3 ; 
2 Kings iv. 24; Prov. xxvi. 3). Asses were also employed 
to carrv burthens, and in the labours of the field ; but Moses 




39. Wild Ass. 



PASTORAL LIFE AND ANIMALS. 



51 



relieved the ass from ploughing in the same yoke with the ox 
(Dent. xxii. 10). Wild asses are often named in Scripture. 
They are still found in Mesopotamia and further east, but 
not now in the Syrian deserts. They are of a fine figure and 
great swiftness, and roam in desert places, far from the abodes 
of men. They go in herds, and by their acute scent discover 
water at a great distance (Psalm civ. 11 ; Isaiah xxxii. 14; 
Jer. xiv. 6). Asses and mules are still much used for riding 
in Palestine, as they afford a species of locomotion well suited 
to the nature of the country. 

11. Mules are first mentioned in the time of David ; but 
were, probably, known much earlier. They were used for 
riding and burthen ; but do not seem to have become very 
common (2 Sam. xiii. 29 ; xviii. 9, 10 ; 1 Kings i. 33 ; ] 
Chron. xii. 40 ; Psalm xxxii. 9 ; Ezek. xxvii. 14). Litters 
were sometimes borne by mules, as is still the case in those 
parts of Western Asia where camels are not common. 




40. Mule Litter. 



PAKT IIL-HABITS OF LIFE. 



SECTION I— HABITATIONS. 

1. The patriarchal fathers of the Israelites were a tent-dwell- 
ing people; and their descendants proceeded at once from 
tents to houses. We therefore read but little of huts among 
them ; and never as the fixed habitations of any people with 
whom they were conversant. By huts we understand small 

dwellings, made of the 
green or dry branches 
of trees intertwined, 
and sometimes plas- 
tered with mud. In 
Scripture they are 
called booths. Such 
were made by Jacob 
to shelter his cattle in 
the first winter of his return from Mesopotamia (Gen. xxxiii. 
17). In after times we more frequently read of them as 
being erected in the vineyards and orchards, to shelter the 
man who guarded the ripened produce (Job xxvii. 18 ; Isaiah 
i. 8; xxiv. 20). It was one of the Mosaical institutions that, 
during the Feast of Tabernacles, the people should live for a 
week in booths made of green boughs (Lev. xxiii. 42). 

2. With tents the Scriptures make us more familiar than 
with huts. They were invented before the Deluge, and ap- 
pear from the first to have been associated with the pastoral 
life, to which a moveable habitation was necessary (Gen. iv. 
20). The practice of the pastoral fathers was to have their 
tents near wells of water, and, if possible, under some shady 
tree (Gen. xviii. 4 ; Judges iv. 5). The first tents were un- 




41. Hut. 



HABITATIONS. 



53 



doubtedly covered with skins, of which there are traces in the 
Pentateuch (Exodus xxvi. 14); but nearly all the tents men- 
tioned in Scripture were, doubtless, of goat's hair, spun and 
woven by the women 
( Exodus xxxv. 26 ; 
xxxvi. 14); such as 
are now in Western 
Asia, used by all who 
dwell in tents ; hence 
their black colour (Sol. 
Song i. 5). Tents of 
linen were, and are, 
only used occasionally, 
for holiday or travelling purposes, by those who do not habi- 
tually live in them. The patriarchal tents were probably 
such as we see now in Arabia, of an oblong shape, and eight 
or ten feet high in the middle. They vary in size, and have, 
accordingly, a greater or less number of poles to support 
them — from three to nine. An encampment is generally 
arranged circularly, forming an enclosure, within which the 
cattle are driven at night, and the centre of which is occu- 
pied by the tent or tents of the Emir or Sheikh. If he is a 
person of much consequence, he may have three or four tents, 
for himself, for his wives, for his servants, and for strangers, 
respectively. The two first are of the most importance, and 
we know that Abraham's wife had a separate tent (G-en. xxiv. 
72). It is more usual, however, for one very large tent to be 
divided into two or more apartments by curtains. The Holy 
Tabernacle was framed on this model (Exodus xxvi. 31-37). 

3. The Israelites may have seen good houses in Egypt ; 
but, on entering Palestine they had to occupy the dwellings 
which the previous inhabitants had built, and their own were 
afterwards constructed on the same model. These appear for a 
long time to have been poor and low, and built either of sun- 
dried mud, or of unhewn stones; timber for building being 
scarce in that country ; and hence the employment of it in 
large quantities, as in some of Solomon's buildings, was a sign 
of costliness and magnificence. Domestic architecture made 
considerable progress during the monarchical period. Solo- 
mon's palace, built by the aid of the Phoenicians, must have 




42. Tent. 



54 



INTRODUCTION. 



suggested many improvements (1 Kings vii. 1-12). Jere- 
miah (xxii. 13, 14) indicates some magnificence of building : 
he speaks of upper storeys, of spacious apartments y of many 

windows, of cedar ceil- 
ings, and of vermillion 
painting. By the time 
of Christ the "buildings 
of the upper classes had 
j| become much improved 
pL by some attention to the 
ML rules of Grecian archi- 
sam tecture. It would seem 
Bf* that the mass of the 
Q| houses in Palestine were 
■Br such as we now see in 
jB^; Syria and Mesopotamia. 
Hfc They were generally 
gP only one storey high, 
P and when they consist- 
ed of more the upper 
storey was inhabited by 
the family, the ground - 
floor being laid out in stores, kitchens, and servants' rooms 
and offices. But what such houses wanted in elevation was 




MM 



Eastern Palace 



; they occupied two, three, or four sides 
and in great houses, there were two or 



made up in extent, a 
of an enclosed court; 
three such courts 
communicating with 
each other. All the 
buildings fronted in- 
to these quadrangles, 
and had no front to 
the street, unless a 
high wall with the 
principal entrance, 
and perhaps a lattice 
above, may be so 
called. The enclosed courts had generally a reservoir or 
fountain in the centre, and were often planted with a few 
trees. A g.^lery, or verandah, screened the principal front 




Inner Conr 



HABITATIONS. 



5.5 



of building, and sometimes two, or all the fronts. This gal- 
lery was broad and substantial, and had a balustrade, and the 
covering was upheld by pillars of wood. Hence the many 

allusions to columns 

(Psalm lxxv. 3 ; Prov. 
ix. l;Gal.ii.9). The 
roofs of the houses 
were, and are, flat, 
and covered with 
mould or a prepared 
compost. They were 
fenced by a parapet 
or balustrade (Deut. 
xxii. 8). In fine weather the people resorted much to these 
roofs, to which there was a stair, to breathe the fresh air, to 
enjoy a prospect, or to witness any event that occurred in the 




Basement of an Eastern House. 



neighbourhood (2 Sam xi. 2 ; 




1. Ancient Egjnitian Door. 

of hinges). 



2, 3. Door Pins (in lieu 
4. Key. 



(Judges iii. 20 ; 1 Kings vii. 2-6 : Je 
Amos iii. 15). 



xxii. 1 ; Matt. xxiv. 17 ; 
Mark xiii. 15). For 
the cool air, they slept 
on the housetop in sum- 
mer; and to enjoy the 
ah* and prospect in the 
day-time, without in- 
convenience from the 
sun, sheds, booths, and 
tents were sometimes 
erected there (2 Sam. 
xvi. 22). The Hebrew 
kings had winter and 
summer palaces, and in 
good houses there were 
sitting-rooms for both 
seasons. In the one 
the situation, the expo- 
sure, the form, were 
designed to promote 
coolness; in the other 
to preserve warmth 
xxii. 14 ; xxxvi. 22 ; 



56 



INTRODUCTION. 



4. Doors were double, or folding, and moved on pivots 
inserted into holes in the threshold below and the lintel above. 

They were secured by bars (Deut. 
hi. 5 ; Judges xvi. 3 ; Job xxxviii. 
10), which were of wood; only 
those to the gates of fortresses and 
valuable stores being of metal 
(Isaiah xlv. 2). There were also 
locks, which were merely wooden 
slides which entered a hole in the 
door-post, and were there secured 
by teeth or catches (Sol. Song v. 
4). The street-doors, as well as 
the gates of towns, among the 
Jews, were adorned with inscrip- 
tions taken from the Law of 
Moses (Deut. vi. 9 ; xi. 20.) 

5. The windows had no glass ; they were only latticed, 
and thus gave free 




Door of Private House. 



passage to the air and 
admitted light, while 
they excluded birds 
and bats. In winter, 
the cold was kept out 
by thin veils over the 
windows, or by shut- 
ters with holes in them 
sufficient to admit light 
(1 Kings vii. 17 ; Sol. 
Song ii. 9). 

6. jSTo ancient 
houses had chimneys. 
The word so trans- 
lated in Hosea (xiii. 3) 
means a hole through 
which the smoke 
escaped. This was 
only in the lower class 
dwellings, where raw «■ IatenOT of ?rwate Room - 
wood was employed for fuel or cooking, and where there was 




HABITATIONS. 



57 




an opening immediately over the hearth, to let out the smoke. 
In better houses, the rooms were warmed in winter by charcoal 
in braziers, as is still very generally the practice in Western 
Asia (Jer. xxxvi. 22 ; Mark xiv. 54 ; John xviii. 18). 

7. In the East, where the climate allows the people to 
spend much of their time out of doors, the articles of house- 
hold furniture and the domestic utensils have always been few 
and simple : in the sitting-rooms, almost nothing but seats 
appear. These seats are now low mattresses or couches at 
the upper end, and sometimes along the sides of the room, with 
bolsters against the wall to support the back. On these the 
people sit cross-legged 
or with their knees 
bent under them : they 
sit in the same man- 
ner upon the ground, 
or on rugs and mats. 

Although it would seem that the Hebrews had these customs, 
yet not so exclusively as the modern Orientals ; as it is clear 

that they had also 
raised seats, such as 
chairs and stools, 
like their Egyptian 
neighbours, among 
whom both modes of 
sitting prevailed (1 
Sam.i. 9; iv. 13,18; 
1 Kings ii. 19; Prov. 
ix. 14 ; Matt. xxi. 
12). The beds con- 
sisted of mattresses 
and quilted coverlets, 
laid upon the floor at 
night, and stowed 
away in a recess by 
day. Sheets, blan- 
~ ~ ~~~ '■ kets, and bedsteads, 

oO. Royal Bed. ' , . 

are not known in the 

East ; but in Persia and Mesopotamia there is a kind of raised 
frame, or settee of wood, or of palm branches, on which the 




58 



INTRODUCTION. 



beds are sometimes placed at night for sleeping on the house- 
top. The Jews seem to have had something of the same 
kind (Psalm xli. 3 ; cxxxii. 3 ; Amos vi. 4). A bed with a 
tester is mentioned in Judith (xvi. 23) which, with other 
indications, and the frequent mention of rich tapestries hung 
about and upon a bed for luxuriousness and ornament, seems 
to prove that such beds as may yet be found in Eastern 
palaces were not unknown under the Hebrew monarchies. 
See Esth. i. 6 ; Prov. vii. 16 ; Ezek. xxiii. 41. 

8. As every family ground its own corn, a hand-mill is 
often named among the domestic utensils. This consisted of 



9. The common domestic vessels were of earthenware, or 
of copper (perhaps tinned), and a few were of leather — such 
as pots, kettles, leather bottles (made of the whole skins of 
goats or kids), plates, cups, and pitchers. They all seem to 
have been such as are still used in the East. Lamps, fed 
with oil of olives, were used for giving light at night. They 
were of earthenware or metal, according to circumstances; 




51. Grinding Corn. 



two circular stones, 
placed horizontally 
one upon another ; 
and the upper being 
made to revolve 
upon the lower, 
reduced to flour the 
corn which was in- 
troduced through a 
hole in the topmost 
stone (called the 
rider). This work 
was performed by 
women, and was 
their first morning 
labour, which they 
often cheered by 
singing (Exodus xi. 
5;Num.xi.8;Deut, 
xxiv.6; Isaiah xlvii. 
2; Matt. xxiv. 41; 
Kev. xviii. 22). 



HABITATIONS. 



59 



and in the houses of the rich were raised on stands, which 
are called ''candlesticks" in our Bible, and which, judging 
from that made for 
the Tabernacle, must 
sometimes have been 
coster and elegant, with 
branches for several 
lamps (Gen. xv. 17 ; 
Exodus xxv. 31-40 ; 
xxvii. 20, 21; Zech. 
iv. 2; Matt. xxv. 1-9). 
A lamp was, and is, 
always kept burning 
at night, which ex- 
plains an allusion con- 
tained in many pass- 
ages of Scripture (2 
Sam. xxi. 17 ; Job 
xviii. 6 ; Prov. xx. 
20). Candles were not in use, and when the word "candle" 
occurs in our Bibles it means a lamp. 

10. The towns of Palestine do not appear to have been 
considerable for size or population ; but this was compensated 
by their great numbers. We are surprised at the number of 
towns mentioned even so early as the time of Joshua. They, 
of course, grew larger and more populous as the coimtry 
became more densely inhabited ; but the only cities that we 
should be disposed to rank with our first-rate towns were 
Jerusalem, Samaria, and, eventually, Csesarea. We know not 
the ordinary population of Jerusalem ; but, from a calculation 
founded on the number of lambs slain at the Passover, it 
would seem that the concourse at that great festival must 
have amounted to between two and three millions. The 
houses of Jerusalem, which were of many storeys, were then 
full of people, and many lodged outside in tents. In the 
time of Christ, Josephus describes Galilee, in particular, as 
exceedingly populous : the towns lay near each other, and the 
population of the least important exceeded fifteen thousand. 
Towns had high walls in the time of Moses, which seemed 
very formidable to the Israelites (Num. xiii. 25-33); and 




Egyptian Lamps. 



60 



INTRODUCTION. 



afterwards the defences of towns were greatly improved. 
Indeed, the gates of towns, which imply walls, are mentioned 
as early as the time of Abraham (Gen. xix. 1 ; xxiii. 10). 



produce of their fields and flocks (2 Chron. xviii. 9 ; xxxii. 6 ; 
Neh. viii. 1, 3 ; 2 Kings vii. 18; Job xxix. 7); but after- 
wards they had, in their large towns, as Josephus testifies, 
such covered bazaars, or streets of shops, for the sale of manu- 
factured goods, as are now usual in the East. The streets 
in Eastern towns are always exceedingly narrow, that the 
shadow of the houses may keep them cool ; and the appear- 
ance of these streets is dull and uninviting, as the houses do 
not front the road. The streets are always unpaved ; but 
some streets in Jerusalem, and in the new cities, were paved 
in the time of the Herods, who had witnessed the benefits of 
this practice in Eome and Italy. The Jewish towns must 
have had rather a mean appearance in the distance, from the 
want of temples and public buildings (except at Jerusalem), 
as well as of such elegant minarets and domes as enliven and 
embellish the towns of the modern East. 





ite 




Villages, being un- 
walled, or surrounded 
only by a hedge, were 
abandoned in times 
of war and trouble, 
and the inhabitants 
removed into caves or 
walled towns (Judges 
v. 7). At the gates 
of towns, most of the 
public business was 
transacted(Gen. xxiii. 
10,18; Deut.xxi.19; 
xxii. 24 ; xxv. 7; Euth 
iv. 1). At the gates 
also the markets were 
held, as long as the 
transactions of the 
Israelites were almost 
confined to the sale 
or interchange of the 



Ill 



SECTION II -FOOD AND DEESS. 

1. Like most Eastern people, the Israelites were plain 
and simple in their food, which consisted chiefly of bread, 
vegetables, fruits (green and preserved), honey, milk, curds, 
cream, butter, and cheese. Meat could hardly be called an 
ordinary article of food, except among the higher class of the 
people dwelling in towns. The use of animal food was, in- 
deed, restricted in some degree by the law, which allowed the 
flesh of no beasts to be eaten but such as chewed the cud and 
parted the hoof, nor any fish but such as had both fins and 
scales (Lev. xi. 1-28). Blood and fat were also interdicted, 
as well as the large lobe of the liver, and the kidneys (Lev. 
iii. 15, 17). These restrictions rendered it difficult for a 
strict Jew to eat with a heathen : and this was probably the 
motive ; as it was one great object of the Mosaical law to 
keep the Israelites separate from all other nations. The hog 
was not forbidden more especially than many other animals ; 
but being the only unclean beast the flesh of which was usually 
and commonly eaten, its absence from the diet of the Jews 
attracted more attention than any other prohibition. Poultry 
was but sparingly used. The only domestic birds kept were 
pigeons and the common fowl ; and the Scripture gives no in- 
stance of their being used for food, except the " fatted fowl," 
provided for the regal and vice-regal tables of Solomon and 
Nehemiah (1 Kings iv. 23 ; Neh. v. 18). The quails eaten 
in the wilderness furnish the only other instance of birds used 
for food (Exod. xvi. 12, 13 ; Num. xi. 31). Eggs are only twice 
mentioned as articles of food (Job vi. 6 ; Luke xi. 12). Al- 
though fish with fins and scales were allowed to the Israelites 
for food, it does not seem that much use was made of this in- 
dulgence until the later clays of the Jewish history. In the 
Old Testament, the only direct reference to the consumption 
of fish is where we learn that Mediterranean fish were brought 
across the country by the Phoenicians for sale at Jerusalem 
(Neh. xiii. 16). The fish brought to the city were sold at a 
particular gate, called the Fish-Gate (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14; 
Neh. iii. 3 ; xii. 39). Fish-ponds are mentioned (Sol. Song 



62 



INTRODUCTION. 



vii. 4) ; and there are such allusions to fishing with nets (Job 
xix. 6 ; Isaiah li. 20), with hooks (Job xli. 1 ; Isaiah xix. 
8 ; Amos iv. 2), and with spears (Job xli. 7), as shew that 
these operations were well known. In the New Testament 
we read oftener of fish and fishing. Several of the Apostles 
were fishermen of the lake of Gennesareth, which abounded 
in fish ; and the Gospels frequently notice their proceedings 
in that character, with which some of the most signal miracles 
of Christ were connected. The eating of fish is also often 
mentioned, and it would seem to have been generally broiled 
(Matt. vii. 10 ; Luke xxiv. 42 ; John xxi. 9, 10, 13). 

2. Bread was not baked in loaves, as with us, but in 
cakes, in rolls, and in large and thin plats, like pancakes. 
Every family generally baked its own bread, and that daily, 
after the flour had been ground. The modes of baking were 
various, and on these the shape of the bread depended. There 
was the heated hearth for the thicker cakes and rolls ; and the 
thin bread was baked either on a metal plate over hot embers, 
or by being stuck against the heated sides of a large earthen- 
ware vessel, or of a pit in the floor (Gen. xviii. 6 ; xix. 3 ; 
Lev. ii. 4; vi. 21 ; xi. 35 ; 1 Kings xix. 6). This work of 
baking bread, like that of grinding corn, was at first performed 
by the wives and daughters, however high their station (Gen. 
xviii. 6 ; Lev. xxvi. 26 ; 2 Sam. xiii. 6, 8 ; Jer. vii. 18, 19) ; 
but was in time abandoned, in families of consequence, to fe- 
male servants (1 Sam. viii. 13). There were, however, in 
large towns, as at present, public ovens and bakers by trade 
(Jer. xxxvii. 21 ; Hos. vii. 4); and from the former text 
which mentions " the bakers' street," it appears that, as is 
still the case, the bakers, as well as other trades, had a par- 
ticular part of the market or bazaar set apart to their own 
use, instead of being, as with us, dispersed through the towns in 
which they lived. The customers of the bakers were chiefly 
the small households, the poor, and the unsettled part of the 
population. For their more extensive operations, the bakers 
have ovens of brick, not unlike our own ; and in very large 
households similar ovens are used. Bread, such as has been 
mentioned, needed not to be cut ; it was always broken (Isaiah 
lviii. 7 ; Lam. iv. 4 ; Matt. xiv. 19 ; &c.) In eating, gene- 
rally, no knives, and much less forks, were used, but each 



FOOD AND DRESS. 



63 



morsel of food was conveyed from the dish to the mouth by 
the right hand (Kuth ii. 14 ; Prov. xxvi. 15 ; John xiii. 26). 
Meat was dressed so as to be easily separated by the ringers ; 
and if a morsel was too large, it was transferred to the cake 
of bread which was placed before each person ; for the use of 
plates was unknown. This mode of feeding made it neces- 
sary that the hands should be washed before and after meals 
(Matt. xv. 2 ; Mark vii. 3) ; which was done by a servant 
pouring water over the hands from an ewer, and receiving it 
in a basin held below, as it fell from them (2 Kings iii. 11). 

3. A kind of lunch, consisting of bread, milk, cheese, &c, 
was taken in the forenoon ; but the principal meal was in the 
evening after the labours of the day were over, and when the 
coolness of the air allowed enjoyment and created appetite. 
Hence it is called a supper (Mark vi. 21 ; Luke xiv. 24 ; 
John xii. 2). A short prayer was said before and after meals 
(Matt. xiv. 9 ; xv. 36 ; xxvi. 27 ; &c.) We have supposed 
before that the Hebrews had two modes of sitting ; when they 
used seats they ate from a table, but when they sat on the 
ground, the meal was laid out on a cloth spread on the floor, 
with a large piece of 
leather under it, to pre- 
vent the mats or carpets 
from being soiled. Or 
a kind of table, raised 
only a few inches, may 
have been occasionally 
employed, as at present. 
During the Captivity, 
the Jews learned (as 
did afterwards the 
Romans) the Persian 
practice of reclining at 
meals upon mats or 
cushions, around the 
table, in such a way thaf the head of every person approached 
the bosom of the one who reclined next above him (John xiii. 
23). In ancient times, every person seems to have had his 
separate portion of meat, and honour was shewn to a distin- 
guished or favoured guest, by the quantity or quality of that 




64 



INTRODUCTION. 




Ancient Dinner- Bed, 



which was set before him (Gen. xliii. 34 ; 1 Sam. i. 4, 5 ; 
ix. 23, 24) ; but in later times every one helped himself from 

the dish nearest to 
him, or from one dish 
if the party was small 
enough for one dish 
to be within the reach 
of all (Matt. xxvi. 23 ; 
John xiii. 26). The 
Orientals do not drink 
during meals, but 
afterwards water or 
wine is handed round in vessels of tinned copper (Matt. xxvi. 
27). Wine was used freely among the Jews, whose country 
was, indeed, noted for wine and oil : all their wines appear to 
have been red (Prov. xxiii. 31 ; Isaiah xxvii. 2). The kind 
most commonly drunk was weak, or much diluted with water, 
and was used much as we use table ale or beer. Strong and 
generous wines were necessarily confined to the rich, and were 
sparingly used. Wine was also sometimes strengthened or 
flavoured with spices, especially myrrh (Num. xv. 10 ; Psalm 
lxxv. 8; Prov. xxiii. 30; Hos. xiv. 7). That which was called 
" strong drink," included the higher kinds of wine, but more 
particularly denoted a very inebriating liquor made of dates and 
of various seeds and roots (Lev. x. 9 ; Deut. xxix. 6 ; 1 Sam. 
i. 15 ; &c.) From this and pure wine was made another 
drink, which appears to have been much used for common 
purposes (Num. vi. 3 ; Ruth ii. 14 ; Matt, xxvii. 48). 

4. At feasts or entertainments, the guests were anointed 
with precious and perfumed oils (Psalm xxiii. 5 ; xlv. 7 ; 
Amos vi. 6 ; Luke vii. 37, 38 ; &c.) It was not uncommon 
for the carousal to be prolonged through the night, with much 
excess of drinking (Rom. xiii. 13 ; Gal. v. 21 ; 1 Peter iv. 3). 
Jests, riddles, singing, music, dancing, were not wanting on 
these festive occasions (Judges xiv. 12 ; Prov. ix. 2-4 ; Isaiah 
v. 12 ; xxiv. 7, 9 ; Amos vi. 4, 5 ; Luke xv. 25). The Jews 
do not appear to have been addicted to gaming, for there is 
no allusion to it in the Scriptures. Neither is story-telling, 
that great pastime of the modern East, directly mentioned ; 
but as they were in the habit of producing apologues, or 



FOOD AND DRESS. 



65 



short stories, on particular occasions, we may safely number 
this among their amusements. 

5. We know how the ancient Egyptians, Persians, Baby- 
lonians, Greeks, and Eomans were dressed, for their costumes 
are represented in sculptures and paintings which still exist ; 
but it is not so with respect to the Jews, who did not consider 
it lawful to carve or paint the human figure. This want is. 
however, well supplied by the existing costumes of the East. 
Dress does not change 
there as with us ; and 
it is clear, that the 
habits now worn by 
the people, as well as 
the common usages of 
life, are, for the most 
part, the same as in 
the times of the Bible. 
The patriarchs dress- 
ed somewhat differ- 
ently, probably, from 
their settled descend- 
ants : and the differ- 
ence was in all likeli- 
hood such as we now 
see between the pas- 
toral Bedouin Arabs 
and the inhabitants 
of settled countries. 
The dresses of the 
great Arabian family, 
in its various condi- 
tions, appear to have been transmitted with little alteration 
from very ancient times, and may be taken as affording 
the nearest approximation which can now be obtained to the 
raiment worn by the ancient Israelites. The Arabian cos- 
tumes may be deemed to agree with the dresses worn in 
the patriarchal and pastoral periods of the Hebrew history. 
The garb conventionally assigned by painters and sculptors to 
Scripture characters seems to have been founded partly on tradi- 
tion, and partly derived from actual observation of Oriental dres& 

D 2 




INTRODUCTION. 




in early pilgrimages to the Holy Land. It is, upon the whole, 
a noble costume, and makes a nearer approach to the truth 
than has been of late usually supposed. Long garments were 

worn by the Israel- 
ites, as they were, 
indeed, by most an- 
cient nations, and 
are by the modern 
Orientals. Such gar- 
ments were also wide 
and loose ; and thus, 
although easy and 
dignified, they rather 
impeded active and 
vigorous exertion ; 
for which reason, in 
manual action, the 

57. Sculptural Scripture Costumes. sleeves Were drawn 

up, or, as the Scripture describes it, "the arm made bare" 
(Isaiah lii. 10; Ezek. iv. 7); and in travelling on foot, or 
running, the skirts were gathered up, and confined by the 
girdle ; this was called 
"girding the loins" (1 
Kings xviii. 46 ; 2 Kings 
iv. 29; Luke xii. 35; 1 
Peter i. 13). We may con- 
ceive the figure of a Jew, 
viewed externally, as that 
of a full-bearded man, clad 
in a long and loose gar- 
ment with large sleeves, 
which was confined to the 
person by a girdle about 
the loins ; the neck bare, 
the feet protected by a 
piece of leather strapped to the sole, and the head either bare 
(as it seems very often to have been), or covered, among 
the higher classes, by a kind of turban, and among the 
common people by a piece of cloth thrown over the head, 
and confined by a fillet around the brows. The ordinary 




58. Arms Bared. 



FOOD AND DRESS. 




£0. Full Dress : with different sorts of Outer Mantles. 



68 



INTRODUCTION. 




appearance of the Jew, however, was varied by circumstances ; 
as when a large, loose, and shapeless garment was thrown, 
like a cloak, over the dress which has been described. This 
was worn with studied grace by the upper classes, who had it 
of finer materials ; and to the poor it was of such service that 
it was forbidden by law to keep it in pledge over-night (Exod. 
xxii. 25, 26 ; see also Job xxii. 6 ; xxiv. 7). This was 
because such persons wrapped themselves up in it when they 
slept ; it also served them to carry burthens in, when nothing- 
more suitable was at hand ; and this use of it may be seen 
every day in the East (Exod. xii. 34 ; 2 Kings iv. 39). It was 

peculiar to the Jews to 
have a fringe with a 
piece of blue tape upon 
the four corners of this 
garment, to remind 
them that they were a 
peculiar people and 
raider peculiar laws 
(Num. xv. 38, 39; 
Matt, ix. 20; Luke 
viii. 44). In a tomb discovered by Belzoni in the valley of 
Babel-Melook, near Thebes, there are, among other figures, 
four supposed to be of captive Jews of the time of Josiah. 
where the fringe 
is conspicuously re- 
presented — perhaps 
with some exagger- 
ation. It was also 
peculiar to them, in 
later days, to wear 
' frontlets,' or ' phy- 
lacteries,' which 
were little boxes 
of hard calf- skin, 
bound by thongs to 
the forehead, and 

folded up slips of parchment, on which were written 
texts of the law which were supposed to prescribe this 
observance (Exod. xiii. 16 ; Dent. vi. 8). 



61. Captive Jews. 




out the 
curious 



FOOD AND DRESS. 



69 



6. All these dresses of the Israelites were of linen or cot- 
ton, excepting the capacious outer garment which was of wool, 
or of wool and hair interwoven. The Egyptians were famous 
for the manufacture of various kinds of cloth ; and that the 
Israelites had learnt this art from them, is evinced by their 
producing in the wilderness the various rich cloths required 
for the coverings and curtains of the tabernacle, and for the 
dress of the high-priest (Exod. xxvi. xxviii.). From various 
passages of Scripture we infer that the art of embroidery was 
carried to some degree of perfection (Exod. xxxv. 35 ; xxxviii. 
23; Judges v. 30). There was a family of Judah particu- 
larly celebrated for its skill in the manufacture of fine linen 
(1 Chron. iv. 21). White, blue, and various shades of red 
and purple, seem to have been the favourite colours among 
the Israelites. No other colours of clothes are named in 
Scripture. 

7. From Oriental analogies, we should suppose that the 
Israelites wore shirts under their tunics ; but there is no posi- 
tive evidence of this, unless, as some ^ 



suppose, such were the " thirty 
sheets" (margin "shirts") which, 
with thirty changes of raiment, 
formed the forfeit of Samson's rid- 
dle (Judges xiv. 12). Loose linen 
drawers or trowsers, such as are 
still used in the East, were worn 
by the priests, and probably by 
others (Exod. xxviii. 42). These 
were at first very short, not reach- 
ing to the knees, but were at length 
extended to the middle of the leg, 




or to the ankle. g3 

8. The girdle which confined 
the tunic was of two kinds. One was a broad band of 
leather, fastened with clasps (2 Kings i. 8 ; Matt. iii. 4), and 
the other was of fine linen or cotton, long and narrow, and 
wound in many folds around the waist (Jer. xiii. 1). The 
girdle answered the purpose of a pocket to carry money and 
other valuables, hence the word rendered " purse " in some 
passages literally means " a girdle" (2 Sam. xviii. 11 ; Matt. 



70 



INTRODUCTION. 



x. 9 ; Mark vi. 8). It might be inferred from 2 Sam. xx. 8, 
that the Israelites wore daggers in their girdles, like the 
modern Orientals ; but this is not very clear ; and Joab, as 
the commander of the forces, might carry arms not generally 
worn. 

9. Stockings and socks were not in use, and the mass of 
the people went altogether barefoot, except in winter, or upon 
a journey ; but the wealthier classes always wore sandals out 
of doors, except during mourning. These sandals are called 



V 




" shoes" in our Bible. 
They were pieces of 
hide or tanned leather, 
shaped to the sole of 
the foot, and bound 
to it with thongs of 
leather (Gen. xiv. 23; 
Exod. xii. 11; Isaiah 
v. 27; Matt. iii. 11; 
x. 10; &c.) When 
a person entered a 
house, or the presence 
of a superior, he took 
off his sandals, as the modern Orientals do their shoes (Exod. 
iii. 5 ; Deut. xxv. 9 ; Ruth iv. 7, 8 ; Isaiah xx. 4 ; Ezek. 
xxiv. 17). It was the office of the lowest class of servants to 
take off and carry the master's sandals (Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark 
i. 7). Servants of that class also washed the soiled feet of 
the guests who came ^gij^ 
to an entertainment; 
although the master 
himself sometimes 
stooped to perform 
this office for a much- 
honoured visitant 
(G-en. xviii. 4 ; Luke 
vii. 44). 

10. The Israel- 
ites allowed the hair 
of the head and beard to grow. The former was shorn occa- 
sionally ; and the partial use of the razor in trimming the 




65. Beards of Syrian and other Foreign Nations, 
from Egyptian Monuments. 



FOOD AND DRESS. 



71 



"beard was not unlawful to any but the Nazarites (Num. vi. 5 ; 
Judges xiii. 7 ; xvi. 17). A Ml head of hair seems to have 
been much admired (2 Sam. xiv. 26 ; Sol. Song v. 11). The 
hair was dressed and anointed with much care, especially at 
festivals (2 Sam. xiv. 2 ; Isaiah iii. 24 ; Matt. vi. 17 ; Luke 
vii. 46). Baldness in 
men not old was rare, 
and' was despised (2 
Kings ii. 23 ; Isaiah 
iii. 24 ; Jer. xlvii. 5). 
The beard, as the 
characteristic sign of 
manhood, was much 
respected by the Is- 
raelites ; to shave it, 
to spit upon it, to pull 
it, and even to touch 
it, except for the pur- 
pose of salutation, were 
the grossest insults which men could inflict upon one another 
(2 Sam. x. 4-6 ; 1 Chron. xix. 3-6 ; Isaiah vii. 20) ; and 
hence, for a man to neglect or maltreat his own beard was a 
sign of madness or of extreme grief (1 Sam. xxi. 13 ; 2 Sam. 
xix. 24; Isaiah xv. 2). 

11. It appears to have been the custom to use walking- 
staves, even when not upon a journey (Gen. xxxii. 10 ; 
xxxviii. 18; Exod. xii. 11; 2 Kings iv. 29; Mark vi. 8; 
&c.) Eings were worn on the fingers : these were generally 
signet-rings bearing the name of the owner, and the impres- 
sion from which was equivalent to his signature. This ex- 
plains the high powers and dignities which a monarch con- 
ferred by the delivery of his own signet-ring (Gen. xli. 42 ; 
Est. iii. 10, 12 ; viii. 2 ; Dan. vi. 9, 13, 17). 




66. Modern Oriental Beards. 



72 



SECTION IIL-WOMEN AND CHILDEEN. 



1. Women appear to have enjoyed considerably more free- 
dom among the Jews than is now allowed them in Western 
Asia, although in other respects their condition and employ- 
ments seem to have been not dissimilar. At present, women 
of all ranks are much confined to their own houses, and never 



tercourse with men, and did not generally conceal their faces 
when they went abroad. Only one instance occurs in Scrip- 
ture of women eating with men (Ruth ii. 14) ; but that was 
at a simple refection, and only illustrates the greater freedom 
of rural manners. 

2. The employments of the women were veiy various, 
and sufficiently engrossing. In the earlier or patriarchal, 
state of society, the daughters of men of substance tended 
their father's flocks (Gen. xxix 9; Exod. ii. 16). In ordi- 
nary circumstances, the first labour of the day was to grind 
corn and bake bread, as already noticed. The other cares of 
the family occupied the rest of the day. The women of the 




67. Matron 



m 



Full Dress. 



see the men who visit 
their husbands or fa- 
thers ; and in towns 
they never go abroad 
without their persons 
and faces being com- 
pletely shrouded; they 
also take then meals 
apart from the males, 
even of their own 
family. But in the 
rural districts they 
enjoy more freedom, 
and often go about 
unveiled. Among the 
Jews, women were 
somewhat less re- 
strained in their in- 



74 



INTRODUCTION. 



peasantry and of the poor consumed much time in collecting 
fuel, and in going to the wells for water. The wells were 
usually outside the towns, and the labour of drawing water 
from them was by no means confined to poor women. This 
was usually, but not always, the labour of the evening ; and 
the water was carried in earthen vessels, borne upon the 
shoulder (Gen. xxiv. 15-20 ; John iv. 7, 28). Working with 
the needle also occupied much of their time, as it would seem 
that not only their own clothes but those of the men were 
made by the females. Some of the needlework was very fine, 
and much valued (Exod. xxvi. 36 ; xxviii. 39 ; Judges v. 30; 
Psalm xlv. 14). The women appear to have spun the yarn 
for all the cloth that was in use (Exod. xxxv. 25 ; Prov. 
xxxi. 19) ; and much of the weaving seems also to have been 
executed by them (Judges xvi. 13, 14 ; Prov. xxxi. 22). The 
tapestries for bed- coverings, mentioned in the last-cited text, 
were probably produced in the loom, and appear to have been 
much valued (Prov. vii. 16). 

3. We have no certain information regarding the dress of 
the women among the poorer classes; but it was -probably 
coarse and simple, and not materially different from that which 



their inner dress, a frock or tunic like that of the men, but 
more closely fitting the person, with a girdle formed by an 



70. Young Lady in Full Dress. 




we now see among the Be- 
douin women, and the female 
peasantry of Syria. This 
consists of drawers, and a 
long and loose gown of coarse 
blue linen, with some orna- 
mental bordering wrought 
with the needle, in another 
colour, about the neck and 
bosom. The head is covered 
with a kind of turban, con- 
nected with which, behind, is 
a veil which covers the neck, 
back, and bosom. We may 
presume, with still greater 
certainty, that women of su- 
perior condition wore, over 



WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 



75 




71. Out-door Veils. 




72. Nose Jewel. 



76 



INTRODUCTION. 




unfolded kerchief. Their head-dress was a kind of turban, 
with different sorts of veils and wrappers worn under various 
circumstances. The hair was worn long, and, as at present, 
was braided into numerous tresses, with trinkets and ribands 
(1 Cor. xi. 15 ; 1 Tim. ii. 9 ; 1 Peter iii. 3). With the 
head-dress the principal ornaments appear to have been con- 
nected, such as a jewel for the forehead, and rows of pearls 
(Sol. Song i. 10 ; Ezek. xvi. 12). Ear-rings were also worn 
(Isaiah iii. 20 ; Ezek. xvi. 12), as well as a nose-jewel, con- 
sisting, no doubt, as now, either of a ring inserted in the 
cartilage of the nose, or an ornament like a button attached 

to it. The nose-jewel 
was of gold or silver, 
and sometimes set with 
jewels (Gen. xxiv. 47 j 
Isaiah iii. 2 1 ) . Brace- 
lets were also generally 
worn (Isaiah iii. 19 ; 
Ezek. xvi. 11), some 
on the wrists, and some 
on the upper arm. They were worn both by men and 
women, but chiefly by the latter ; and, for a man, the bracelet 
on the upper arms, seems to have been, as it is now in the 
East, a mark of royalty 
(2 Sam. i. 10). Ank- 
lets were also worn by 
females, and were, as at 
present, probably more 
like fetters than orna- 
ments (Isaiah iii. 16, 
20). The Jewish wo- 
men had the art of 
staining their eyelids 
black, for effect and 
expression (2 Kings ix. 
30; Jer.iv. 30; Ezek. 

Xxiii 40) * and it is ^ ^ ^' ^' Ancient Oriental. 3, 4, 8, Modern Oriental. 

more than probable that they had the present practice of 
staining the nails, and the palms of their hands and soles of 
their feet, of an iron-rust colour, by means of a paste made 




WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 



77 



from the plant called henna [Lawsonia inermis). This plant 
appears to be mentioned in Sol. Song i. 14, and its present 
use is probably referred to in Deut. xxi. 12 ; 2 Sam. xix. 24. 

4. Fathers claimed the absolute disposal of their sons and 
daughters in marriage (Gen. xxi. 21 ; Exod. xxi. 9 ; Deut. 
xxii. 16 ; Judges xiv. 1-4) ; but in a family where the chil- 
dren were from different mothers, the full brothers of a young 
woman expected also to be consulted (Gen. xxxiv. 11, 27 ; 
2 Sam. xiii. 20-29). If a young man saw a damsel whom he 
liked, he might ask his own father to apply to her father on 
his behalf (Gen. xxxiv. 4 ; Judges xiv. 1, 2). To prevent 
the contamination of idolatry, all marriages with foreigners 
were forbidden to the Israelites (Exod. xxxiv. 15, 16 ; Neh. 
xiii. 23). If it happened that, for want of male heirs, daugh- 
ters inherited an estate, it was expected that they should 
marry near kinsmen, or at least in their own tribe, that the 
property might be kept in the family or tribe to which it was 
first allotted (Num. xxvii. 1-11 ; xxxvi. 1-12). For a some- 
what similar reason, if a man died without sons, his next 
brother was expected to marry his widow, and the first-born 
son of this union was considered as the son of the deceased, 
and inherited his estate (Deut. xxv. 5-10 ; Kuth iv. 1-5). 

5. A father did not, as with us, give a fortune with his 
daughter, but expected to receive a consideration or dowry 
for giving her in marriage ; the amount of which was settled 
in the contract of marriage which was formed by the fathers 
of the respective parties (Gen. xxix. 18, 27 ; xxxiv. 11, 12 ; 
Josh. xv. 6 ; 1 Sam. xviii. 23-26). This covenant, which 
was, in fact, the essential act of marriage, was in earlier 
times rendered valid by the presence of witnesses; but in 
later days it was reduced to writing, and appears to have 
been confirmed by oaths (Prov. ii. 17 ; Mai. ii. 14). In 
Jacob's case we have an instance of the husband's personal 
services to the father being accepted in lieu of money. Some- 
times, however, a daughter was freely given by a father, 
without the exaction of what was called her " price," and 
such wives were the more highly honoured (Gen. xi. 15). 
In particular cases, it also occurred that a dowry was given 
by the father with his daughter fJosh. xv. 18, 19 ; Judges L 
12-15 ; 1 Kings ix. 16). 



78 



INTRODUCTION. 



6. An interval of ten or twelve months, or even longer, 
usually passed between the contract of marriage and the 
actual nuptials. During this time the affianced pair saw 
little of each other ; but were nevertheless accounted as man 
and wife, — so much so, that the engagement could not be 
broken off without a regular divorce ; and the woman was 
stoned as an adulteress, if, in the meantime, she proved un- 
chaste (G-en. xxiv. 55 ; Judges xiv. 8 ; Matt. i. 18-20). When 
the nuptial day arrived, the bridegroom went, in the evening, 
with his friends and associates, in holiday attire, to take 
home his bride from her father's house. She, splendidly ar- 
rayed, and with the bridal crown upon her head, came forth, 
attended by her young companions ; and, walking under a 
canopy, was escorted to her future home with songs, and 
dances, and instrumental music. On their arrival there, the 
men and women feasted in separate apartments ; and if the 
parties were wealthy, the feast was prolonged for a week 
(Judges xiv. 17). We know not of any ceremony attending 
this actual marriage, unless it were that the nuptial blessing 
— a prayer for a numerous offspring — was invoked on the 
newly-married pair. 

7. For a man to have more than one wife was an abuse 
which existed at a very early date (G-en. iv. 19), and, in 
the course of time, became very prevalent. It was common 
among the Hebrews in the time of Moses, when it was deemed 
advisable to discourage rather than absolutely to interdict so 
rooted a practice. Afterwards, however, it became very un- 
usual for a man to have more than one wife ; as is, in fact, 
the case at present in countries where polygamy is allowed. 

8. In like manner, Moses imposed some restrictions on 
the practice of divorce, which appears to have been before 
his time merely an oral act on the part of the man, but which 
he required to be effected by a written document. The re- 
pudiation might afterwards be retracted, if the woman had 
not, in the meanwhile, married another man ; but if she had, 
it could not be recalled (Deut. xxiv. 1-4). It was disputed 
in later times, what the law intended to be a sufficient ground 
of divorce. One party contended that the man might divorce 
his wife for any cause, however trifling ; the other, that he 
could do so for adultery only. Our Lord, in whose time the 



WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 



7^ 



practice of divorce had become frightfully common, decided 
the latter to be the just alternative (Matt. v. 31, 32). Even 
before the time of Moses, the punishment for adultery in a 
woman was death (Gen. xxxviii. 24 ; Lev. xx. 10), but we 
meet with no instance of its actual infliction. If a man sus- 
pected the chastity of his wife, without having legal evidence 
of the fact, it was in his power to subject her to the ordeal 
of the water of jealousy," which, through the agency of a 
very awful oath, was to be instrumental in making her guilt 
or innocence appear (Num. v. 11-31). 

9. The Israelites eagerly desired children, and especially 
sons. Hence the messenger who first brought to the father 
the news that a son was born, was well rewarded (J ob iii. 3 ; 
Jer. xx. 15). The event was celebrated with music ; and 
the father, when the child was presented to him, pressed it 
to his bosom, by which act he was understood to acknowledge 
it as his own (Gen. 1. 23 ; Job iii. 12 ; Psalm xxii. 10). On 
the eighth day from the birth the child was circumcised (Gen. 
xvii. 10) ; at which time also, a name was given to it (Luke 
i. 59). The first-born son was highly esteemed, and had many 
distinguishing privileges. He had a double portion of the 
estate (Deut. xxi. 17) ; he exercised a sort of parental autho- 
rity over his younger brothers (Gen. xxv. 23, &c. ; xxvii. 29 ; 
Exod. xii. 29 ; 2 Chron. xxi. 3) ; and before the institution 
of the Levitical priesthood, he acted as the priest of the fa- 
mily (Xum. iii. 12, 13 ; viii. 18). The patriarchs exercised 
the power of taking these privileges from the first-born, and 
giving them to any other son, or of distributing them among 
different sons ; but this practice was overruled by the Mosaical 
law (Deut. xxi. 15-17). 

10. The child continued about three years at the breast 
of the mother, and a great festival was given at the weaning 
(Gen. xxi. 8 ; 1 Sam. i. 22-24 ; 2 Chron. xxxi. 6 ; Matt, 
xxi. 16). He remained two years longer in charge of the 
women ; after which he was taken under the especial care of 
the father with a view to his proper training (Deut. vi. 20- 
25 ; xi. 19). It appears that those who wished for their 
sons better instruction than they were themselves able or 
willing to give, employed a private teacher, or else sent them 
to a priest or Levite, who had perhaps several others under 



80 



INTRODUCTION. 



his care. The principal object was, that they should be well 
acquainted with the law of Moses ; and reading and writing 
were taught in subservience to this leading object. 

11. The authority of a father was very great among the 
Israelites, and extended not only to his sons, but to his grand- 
sons, — indeed, to all who were descended from him. His 
power had no recognised limit, and even if he put his son or 
grandson to death, there was, at first, no law by which he 
could be brought to account (Gen. xxi. 14 ; xxxviii. 24). 
But Moses circumscribed this power, by ordering that when 
a father judged his son worthy of death, he should bring him 
before the public tribunals. If, however, he had struck or 
cursed his father or mother, or was refractory or disobedient, 
he was still liable to capital punishment (Exod. xxi. 15, 17: 
Lev. xx. 9; Deut. xxi. 18-21). 



81 



SECTION IV— ETIQUETTE. 

1. The Israelites, like other Orientals, gave stronger 
manifestations of their feelings of respect or dislike, than has 
ever been usual among western nations. In most cases their 
manner would express more, and ours less, than the real feel- 
ing ; and, in general, the etiquette of Orientals is more 
refined than might be expected from their condition in life. 
Domestic servants who, in families of consideration, were 
foreign slaves, behaved with great submission and respect, 
and, when in actual attendance, stood at a distance with 
crossed arms, watching the slightest motion of the master's 
hand (Psalm cxxiii. 2). When equals, being friends, met 
they kissed each other's beards, as do the Arabians, placing 
the hand underneath (2 Sam. xx. 9). Sometimes, the cheeks 
were merely placed together, and this also is described as a 
kiss or salutation. The kisses of affection, were on the lips 
and cheeks in women, and the beard and cheeks in men ; the 
kiss of respect and homage was upon the brow (Gen. xxvii. 
26 ; Exod. iv. 27 ; 1 Sam. x. 1 ; 2 Sam. xv. 5 ; xix. 39 ; 
Psalm ii. 12 ; Prov. xxiv. 26 ; Matt. xxvi. 49 ; Acts xx. 37). 
In meeting, they asked each other of their health, and the 
health of their connections, which, with other ceremonies, 
consumed so much time that persons charged with urgent 
messages were enjoined to salute no one by the way (2 Kings 
iv. 29 ; Luke x. 4). Various forms of bowing and prostra- 
tion are mentioned in 
Scripture. The most 
usual, as now, were 
to bow or incline the 
head, in doing which 
the Orientals lay the 
right hand upon the 
heart (Gen. xxiv. 26 ; 75 ' Eastern Forms of Bowmg - 

1 Kings i. 16, 31, &c.) ; to bow the body very low " with the 
face towards the ground," without bending the knees (1 Sam. 
xxv. 23; xxviii. 14; 2 Sam. xiv. 33; 1 Kings i. 23; 2 Chron. 




82 



INTRODUCTION. 



vii. 3, &c.) ; to bend the knees (Num. xxiv. 9 ; Judges vii. 6 ; 
1 Kings xix. 18); to kneel, in worship (2 Chron. vi. 13; Psalm 
xcv. 6; Dan. vi. 11) ; and to prostrate one's-self upon the 
ground, which was done either as an act of worship to God, 
or in reverence, homage, or humiliation before man (Gen. 
xxii. 5 ; 1 Sam. i. 3 ; 2 Sam. ix. 8 ; Psalm xlv. 12 ; Acts x. 





77- Head on the Ground. 



76. Prostration. 




25, 26 ; Rev. xix. 20; xxii. 9). This last posture consisted 
sometimes in grovelling flat upon the ground ; but more 
usually with the knees 
bent, and the forehead 
rested on the earth. 
Other marks of reve- 
rence were, kissing 
the feet of the person 
reverenced, or the hem 
of his garment (Matt, 
ix. 20; Luke vii. 38), 

which acts were usually connected with some of the postures 
of respect which have been mentioned. In their greetings 
nearly the same verbal saluta- 
tions were in use as we now find 
among the Arabians and other 
Moslems. The most usual were, 
"Peace be with thee" (Judges 
xix. 20 ; 1 Sam. xxv. 6 ; 1 Chron. 
xii. 18 ; Luke xxiv. 36) ; " The 
blessing of the Lord be upon 
thee" (Psalm cxxix. 8) ; " Bles- 
(Ruth iii. 10; 1 Sam. xxiii. 21). 




79. Kissing the Hand. 

sed be thou of the Lord 



ETIQUETTE. 



83 



There is a pleasing instance of the interchange of salutations 
in the case of Boaz, who said to his reapers, " The Lord be 
with you," and was answered, "The Lord bless thee" 
(Ruth ii. 4). 

2. It has always been the custom in the East for an in- 
ferior to make a present to a superior, when paying him a 
visit, or seeking any favour from him ; and this custom was 
very prevalent among the Jews (Prov. xviii. 16). It was 
considered a mark of respect which it would be uncivil to 
omit, even when the present was merely complimentary, and 
of no intrinsic value ; and it might consist of money, different 
articles of food, clothes, arms, or anything which could, ac- 
cording to his means, evince the respect of the party making 
the offering (Gen. xliii. 11 ; 1 Sam. ix. 7 ; xvi. 20 ; Job xlii. 
11). Kings and princes were in the habit of making presents 
as marks of distinction and favour to those whom they wished 
to honour. These were generally dresses of more or less 
value (Gen. xlv. 22, 23 ; Est. viii. 15) ; and there was a 
royal wardrobe in which such garments were kept (2 Chron. 
ix. 24). The most distinguished honour of this kind, was to 
receive a robe which the prince had himself worn (1 Sam. 
xviii. 4) ; and it was a great affront if the garment thus pre- 
sented was not immediately and publicly worn (Matt. xxii. 
11, 12). 

3. When kings and princes entered their cities in state, it 
was usual to lay the dust by sprinkling the streets, to strew 
the road with flowers and branches of trees, and even to spread 
the ground with cloth, or with garments ; while the specta- 
tors, crowding on the house-tops, and at the opened lattices 
fronting the street, clapped their hands and shouted for joy : 
at other times they performed their obeisance in silence as the 
great one passed (2 Sam. xvi. 16 ; 1 Kings i. 40 ; 2 Kings 
ix. 13 ; Isa. xlii. 11 ; Zech. ix. 9 ; Matthew xxi. 7-9). 

4. The modes of shewing insult and inflicting disgrace, 
among the Israelites, were very significant, although they ap- 
pear to us childish. They consisted of maltreating the beard, 
as formerly mentioned ; of plucking off the hair (Isa. 1. 6), 
and of spitting in the face (Isa. 1. 6 ; Mark xiv. 65). To 
put men to the employments of women was a dreadful degra- 
dation (Judges xvi. 21 ; Lam. v. 13) ; and clapping the 



84 



INTRODUCTION. 



hands, hissing, thrusting out the tongue and making a wide 
mouth, crunching the teeth, and wagging the head, are de- 
scribed as modes in which the populace testified their hatred, 
or shewed malignant exultation or contempt (Job xxvii. 23 ; 
Jer. lvii. 4 ; ii. 15 ; Ezek. xxv. 6). But perhaps the greatest 
and most intolerable insult, was to cast contempt upon a man's 
mother : thus Saul, to insult his son, spoke contemptuously of 
his own wife (1 Sam. xx. 30) ; and more than once David 
speaks slightingly of his own sister Zeruiah, .to humble her 
sons (2 Sam. hi. 39 ; xvi. 10 ; xix. 22). In popular tumults 
the people testified the vehemence of their rage, by casting- 
dust into the air (Acts xxii. 23). The dead were dishonoured 
by denying them the rites of sepulture (Kev. xi. 8, 9) ; by 
casting the great into the graves of the common people (Jer. 
xxvi. 23) ; by disinterring them after burial (Jer. viii. 1) ; or 
by exposing them to be devoured by ravenous beasts, and 
forbidding them to be publicly lamented (Jer. xvi. 5-7 ; xix. 
7 ; xxii. 18, 19). 



85 



SECTION T.-TBA YELLING. 



1. When a person travelled on foot, he tucked up his 
skirts with his girdle, so as to leave free action to the leg and 
knee ; he had a staff, wore sandals, and had a small " scrip " 
or bag suspended from the neck for provisions. If he was 
going to a distance he took a change of clothes, and sometimes 
a jar or kid-skin bottle of water (Gen. xxi. 14 ; Luke ix. 3). 
The cool of the morning or evening, or of the night, was the 
usual time for travelling ; in the heat of the day travellers 
sought refreshment and rest (Gen. xviii. 1-5). The custom- 
ary salutations on the road were neglected by hurried travel- 
lers (2 Kings iv. 29). 

2. There were no inns like ours. In the early periods of 
Scripture history, if a traveller had no friends to whom he 
could repair in the place to which he came, he waited in the 
street, or at the gate, till some hospitable person invited him 
to his house (Gen. xix. 2 ; Judges xix. 15-21). In the time 
of Christ there appear to have been, in the towns, such places 
of public accommoda- _ ... 



mg lor themselves and 
beasts, but have to provide provisions, fuel, and beds for 
themselves. In the stable of such a place, there being no 
room for his parents in the lodging apartments, the Saviour 
of the world was born (Luke ii. 7). Places of the same 
kind upon the road, for the accommodation of travellers, are 
called caravanserais : these are of more ancient date, being 
the "inns" of Gen. xlii. 27; xliii. 21; Exod. iv. 24; and 
Luke x. 34. Under such circumstances, persons making a 
journey are obliged to make preparation not required among 
us. This varies with the length and circumstances of the 
way ; a long journey through a thinly peopled country, 
requiring more preparation than a short one where market 



tion as we now find 
in the East, namely, 
khans, where strangers 
are provided with lodg- 





80. Khan. 



86 



INTRODUCTION. 



towns frequently occur. But all preparations may be com- 
prehended under the heads of, — 1. Provender for the cattle, 
consisting of barley and chopped straw : — 2. Provisions and 
water ; the provisions being meal to make bread, or else a 
kind of hard-baked bread or biscuit, rice, dried dates and 
other fruits, cheese, and sometimes, but rarely, potted meat ; 
the water is carried in skin bags or bottles, of a size and num- 
ber proportioned to the journey: — 3. Conveniences; which 
are more extensive now since the use of coffee and tobacco 
has been introduced than formerly ; but which may be said 
to consist of a rug and quilted coverlet for a bed, a copper 
pot for cooking, a few bowls of wood or of tinned copper, and a 
ewer for ablutions. Few long journeys are described in Scrip- 
ture ; but in such as are mentioned, preparations like these 
must be more or less understood, according to the exigencies 
of the case (Gen. xlii. 25, 27; xliii. 11, 21; xlv. 21, 23; 
Josh. ix. 11-15). 



87 



SECTION VI —CUSTOMS KELATING TO THE DEAD. 




81. Wail with Tabrets, &c. 



1. When a person died, his relations rent their upper 
garment from head to foot, and a smaller rent was made by 
the spectators. This rending of the clothes was also a com- 
mon act of mourning on almost every occasion of distress 
(Gen. xxxvii. 29 ; Judges xi. 35 ; 2 Sam. i. 2 ; Esther iv. 
1 ; &c.) In the case of death, a dismal cry was at the same 
time raised by the 
persons present ; and 
if the parties were in 
good circumstances, 
the hired mourners 
and minstrels were 
soon in attendance 
to aggravate the 
ostensible mourning 
by their -doleful la- 
mentations and melancholy music (Jer. ix. 17, 18 ; Matt. ix. 
23 ; Mark v. 38 ; Acts ix. 39). The eyes of the deceased 
were closed by one of his sons, or by the nearest present 
relative (Gen. xlvi. 4). The body was then laid out upon a 
cloth on the floor or on a table, and washed with warm water. 
It was next placed upon a table and embalmed. There 
were various ways of embalming ; but except in the case of 
Jacob and Joseph, who were embalmed in Egypt (Gen. 1. 2, 
26), it is doubtful if this was ever done so elaborately as 
among the Egyptians. The most usual mode was to anoint 
the body with a solution of odoriferous drugs, and wrap it up 
in linen. Spices and perfumes were used in great abundance 
in preparing the bodies of the wealthy for the sepulchre. We 

82. Grave-clothes. 

which was wrapped up in linen, with a hundred-weight of 



the large quantities 
provided by Joseph 
and Nicodemus for 
the body of Christ, 



88 



INTRODUCTION. 



myrrh and lign aloes (John xix. 39, 40). Usually, after the 
ordinary washing and anointing, the body was wrapped round 
with many folds of linen, and the head enveloped in a napkin 
(John xi. 44). 

2. The funeral was seldom delayed above twenty-four 
hours after death, as the process of decomposition commences 
very soon in warm countries ; and to enforce the salutary prac- 
tice of speedy interment, the law extended to seven days the 
ceremonial defilement communicated by the presence of a corpse 
(Num. xix. 11-13; Acts v. 6, 10). The body was not put 
into a coffin, but, closely wrapped up from head to foot, was 
borne in an open bier to the place of burial (Luke vii. 14). 




83. Ancient Jewish Funeral; Costume, Arabo- Syrian. 



The bier was followed by the mourners, who expressed their 
grief in loud -lamentations ; while the minstrels, with their 
melancholy pipes, and the mourning women with doleful voices 
and dishevelled hair, enhanced the effect of this public display 
of sorrow (2 Sam. hi. 31, 32 ; Amos v. 31, 32 ; Matt. ix. 23 ; 
xi. 17). The body was deposited in its last home without any 
particular ceremony. As the funeral procession returned, there 
were several pauses, to enable certain of the company to ad- 
minister comfort to the afflicted relatives. The day was con- 
cluded by a funeral feast, in which they ate what was called 
the " bread of mourning " and drank " the cup of consolation " 
(2 Sam. hi. 35 ; Jer. xvi. 7 ; Hos. ix. 4). Kent clothes and 
sackcloth formed the mourning attire of the Israelites (Gen. 
xxxvii. 34; 2 Sam. hi. 31; Joel i. 8; &c). Other acts of 
mourning were, to go about with the face and head shrouded 
(2 Sam. xix. 4), and to sprinkle dust upon the head (Job ii. 
12 ; Lam. ii. 10 ; Kev. xviii. 19.) 

3. Our own custom of burying the dead in towns would 
not be endured in the East; nor did it exist among the 



CUSTOMS RELATING TO THE DEAD. 



89 




interior of Sepulchre. 



Israelites. The burial-grounds are always at some distance 
from the towns ; they are unenclosed, and the highways often 
pass through them. This was also the case among the Jews, 
as is evident from several passages of Scripture (Jer. xxvi. 
23 ; Matt, xxvii. 52, 53), and from mention being made of 
men walking over graves without being aware of them (Luke xi. 
44). Burial in these general cemeteries was for the mass of 
the people, or those who had no private or family sepulchres. 
The latter were commonly 
in private fields and gar- 
dens, in the outskirts of 
the towns ; and, when pos- 
sible, were caverns, some of 
which, still remaining, are 
extensive excavations, with 
niches in the sides wherein 
the corpses were deposited. 
They were closed either by 
a stone door, or by a flat stone placed against the entrance 
(Gen. xxiii. 17-20 ; 2 Kings xiii. 21 ; Isaiah xxii. 16 ; Matt. 

xxiii. 27, 29 ; xxvii. 52, 53, 60). Only the remains of kings 
and very distinguished men were allowed to be deposited in 
cities (1 Sam. xxviii. 3 ; 2 Kings xxi. 18 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 14; 

xxiv. 16) ; and the sepulchre of the kings of the line of David 
was upon Mount Zion (2 Kings xiv. 20 ; 2 Chron. xxi. 20 ; 
&c.) It was usual to whitewash the exterior of sepulchres 
on the last day of the year, with the view of preventing the 

strangers who came 
to Jerusalem from 
defiling themselves 
by inadvertent con- 
tact therewith (Matt, 
xxiii. 27) ; for con- 
tact even with a bone 
of a dead body was 
counted a defilement 
(2 Chron. xxxiv. 5). 
By what kind of 
monuments the Is- 
raelites honoured the dead is not very clear. In very early 




85. Modern Sv 



90 



INTRODUCTION. 



times Jacob erected a stone (called a " pillar" ) over the grave 
of his beloved Eachel (Gen. xxxv. 20) ; and Absalom in his 
lifetime erected a monument (also called a "pillar") to keep 
his name in remembrance (2 Sam. xviii. 18). The sepulchral 
stones appear to have been engraved with inscriptions de- 
claring the name and quality of the dead (2 Kings xxiii. 17). 
That there were tombstones in the common cemeteries is not 
altogether clear from Scripture, but may be inferred from 
various circumstances, and from the analogy of existing 
usages. 




Garden Tomb. 



PAST IY.-LITEEATUEE. SCIENCE. AND ABT. 



SECTION I— LITERATURE. 

h Without inquiring into the origin of the Hebrew language, 
we may observe that it was spoken both in Mesopotamia and 
Canaan in the time of Abraham ; for that patriarch, who 
came from beyond the Euphrates, conversed freely with the 
inhabitants of Canaan; and when Jacob, who had been brought 
up in the land of Canaan, went into Mesopotamia, his speech 
was readily understood (Gen. xxiii. 3, &c. ; xxix. 4-8). A 
more certain evidence of this is found in the fact, that the 
names of places and persons existing in Palestine when Abra- 
ham migrated to that country, have all a meaning in the 
language which Abraham spoke. That language is entirely 
unlike those of Europe, but it has a strong resemblance to the 
other original languages of Asia west of the Tigris, — the Ara- 
bic, the Syriac, and the Chaldean. As it is now known, the 
Hebrew language is very simple and significant, but it wants 
flexibility and copiousness. It should be observed, however, 
that only a part of the ancient language is known to us, — that 
which is contained in the Bible : and no one book, however 
large or various, can ever .exemplify all the forms, or embrace 
the whole vocabulary, of any language. 

2. Like all the languages of western Asia, Hebrew is read 
from right to left. The character in which it is written is 
the Chaldean, which the Jews adopted during the Captivity ; 
and which, although not altogether different from that which 
they previously employed, is more neat and elegant. The 
older character is now known as the Samaritan, because it 
was retained by the Samaritans after it had been abandoned 



92 



INTRODUCTION. 



by the Jews. The Hebrew alphabet consists of twenty-one, 
or, as some count them, twenty-two consonants : — 

a b g d hv zchtj k l 

72 2 o v s 2 p n to & n 

m n s gh p. ph. tz q.k r s sh t.th 

There are thirteen vowel sounds, which are now usually ex- 
pressed by points set above or below the respective consonants 
with which they are joined. The antiquity of these points is 
a matter which has been much controverted. 

3. The older alphabet of the Hebrews, and their mode of 
writing, were, like their language, the same as those of the 
Canaanites and Phoenicians. Their early knowledge of alpha- 
betic wTiting is implied in the fact, that there were public genea- 
logists (Deut. xvii. 18, 19 ; xxiv. 1-3) ; and is evinced by the 
writings of Moses, by the stone tables of the law, and by the fre- 
quent references which Moses makes to books and writings as 
to things well known (Exod. xvii. 14 ; xxiv. 4 ; xxviii. 9-11 ; 
xxxii. 32; xxxiv. 27, 28; Num. xxxiii. 2; Deut. xxvii. 8). 
In the course of time, many of the Israelites were able to read 
and write ; but the great mass of the people were content with 
oral instruction in the law of God, which was the only kind 
of learning in general deemed necessary. When occasion re- 
quired, those who could, wrote for those who could not write ; 
and persons in the habit of thus acting as scribes, who were 
usually Levites, always went with inkhorns in their girdles, as 

is still done by the 
- learned in the East. 

This implement was 
then, as now, pro- 
QC vided not only with 

86. Arabian Writing Case. * m 

a receptacle for ink, 

but with a case for reed pens and a pen-knife (Jer. xxxvi. 23 ; 
Ezek. ix. 2, 3, 11). The materials for writing were very 
various at different times of the long period over which the 
Hebrew history extends. New inventions were introduced, 
and the purpose of the writing often dictated the character of 
the material. The most ancient which we know to have 
been actually used, were the stone tables on which the Deca- 




LITERATURE. 93 

logue was engraved, and the great stones which were set up 
on Mount Ebal (Deut. xxvii. 1-3). From the latter instance, 
it would seem that the engraved letters were sometimes filled 
up with plaster. In the book of Job, which is supposed to 
be of still earlier date, the practice of writing on rocks and 
tablets of lead, as well as in books, is mentioned (Job. xix. 
23, 24). It is presumed that laws, treaties, and the history 
of great public events, were carved on the rocks and stones 
as well as on lead, for which brass, as being more durable, 
was afterwards substituted (1 Mace. viii. 22 ; xiv. 20-27). 
It is more difficult to determine the early material of books 
among the Hebrews. As we do not read of books being in 
use among them till they were in Egypt, it is probable that 
they would use the materials employed in that country. Now 
it is known that leather was among the materials on which 
the Egyptians wrote ; and a few leathern rolls of the most 
remote antiquity have been found. As, therefore, the Hebrews, 
when they first had books, were a pastoral people, and had 
the art of preparing the skins of animals, it seems likely that 
their first books, or rolls, were of this material. Linen, also, 
was so prepared as to bear writing, and may have been 
employed to some extent by the Israelites. The invention 
of paper made from the papyrus reed (Cyperus papyrus) was 
of very ancient date ; and hence it also may have been in use 

among the Jews. But 
as it was much dearer 
than leather, it may 
be assumed that the 
latter was the material 
chiefly used. Jose- 
phus affirms, that the 
copies of the sacred 
books were written on 
skins (Antiq. xii. 2); 
and that Jeremiah's 
roll of prophecy con- 
sisted of skin seems 
to be indicated by the 
fact that the king cut it with a knife before throwing it into 
the fire (Jer. xxxvi. 23). Parchment was not invented until 




94 



INTRODUCTION. 



250 b, c, and it soon came into general use among the 
Israelites, for their sacred writings. For common uses, tablets 
of wood were employed : these were not in the East, as 
among the Komans, covered with wax, but with a glazed 
composition capable of receiving ink. Such tablets were used 
by the Egyptians long after they had papyri, and are still 
used in the common schools of Egypt (Isaiah viii. 1 ; Ezek. 
xxxvii. 16; Luke i. 63). 

4. Books of skin and parchment, and even of papyrus, 
were in the form of rolls, written in small columns, the 
beginning being at the open end. They were sometimes, but 



xix. 14; Ezra vi. 2; Isaiah xxxiv. 4). Books which were 
thus rolled up, and tied round with a string, could be easily 
sealed (Isaiah xxix. 11 ; Dan. xii. 4; Eev. v. 1, 5, 7). 

5. No mention of letters or epistles occurs earlier than 
the time of David (2 Sam. xi. 14, &c); but they are fre- 
quently spoken of afterwards. In the East, letters are usually 
sent unsealed ; but when addressed to persons of consequence, 
they are enclosed in a valuable purse or bag, which is tied, 
sealed, and stamped with a signet. This seems also to have 
been the practice of the Jews (Neh. vi. 5; Isaiah xxix. 11). 
It has already been observed, that the common use of the 
signet in the East is not to seal letters, but to stamp with ink 
the name engraved thereon, instead of a manual signature. 




88. Ancient Roll. 



very rarely, written 
on both sides (Ezek. 
ii. 9, 10; Zech. v. 1). 
They were rolled 
round a stick or rol- 
ler, like a map ; or, 
if long, round two 
rollers, one at each 
end. The reader un- 
rolled the book as he 
perused it, and rolled 
it up again when he 
had done ; and hence 
a book was called a 
"volume," or a thing 
rolled up (2 Kings 



LITERATURE. 



95 



6. In writing on hard materials, such as tables of stone or 
metal, use was made of a stylus or bodkin, made of iron, and 
sometimes tipped with diamond (Jer. xvii. 1). But the ordi- 
nary pen for writing with ink was a reed, cut and split much 
like our pen, but with a 
more blunt point. The 
ink .used by the Orientals 
is most intensely black, 
and much less fluid than 
ours, more resembling 
printers' ink (Num. v. 23; Jer. xxxvi. 18). The ink-horn, in 
which it is carried, consists of a small brass vessel at the end 
of a hollow shaft, which, as already mentioned, also contains 
the reeds and a knife for sharpening them (Jer. xxxvi. 23 ; 
Ezek. ix. 2, 3, 11). 



89. Persian Writing Case. 



96 



SECTION II. -SCIENCE AND AET. 

1. The sciences were very little cultivated among the 
Hebrews, except for some of the ordinary purposes of life. 
They understood so much of arithmetic as to be able to state 
and compute large numbers ; and they appear to have known 
the application of geometry to the measurement and demarca- 
tion of land. Astronomy was chiefly studied, in ancient times, 
for the sake of the vain science of astrology ; and as the 
Israelites were interdicted from practising the latter (Deut. 
xviii. 10), they paid little attention to the former, except for 
the purpose of reckoning time. 

2. The days and nights among the Hebrews were divided 
according to the natural periods of light and darkness ; and 
the civil or calendar day was counted, not from morning to 
morning, but from evening to evening. Hence, their seventh 
day, or sabbath, began on the evening of our Friday, and 
ended on the evening of our Saturday. The natural day was 
divided into three parts, morning, noon, and evening (Psalm 
lv. 17) ; and there was also a more minute division of it into 
six unequal parts : — 1, the break of day ; 2, the morning, or 
sunrise ; 3, the heat of the day ; 4, mid-day ; 5, the cool of 
the day ; 6, evening. The natural night was also divided 
originally into three parts, or " watches the first watch 
(Lam. ii. 19) ; the middle watch (Judges vii. 19) ; and the 
morning watch (Exod. xiv. 24). In later times a fourth 
watch was added, when the divisions of the night were rec- 
koned thus : — Eventide, from sunset to the third hour of the 
night (Mark xi. 11) ; midnight, from the third hour till mid- 
night ; cock-crowing, from midnight to the third hour after, 
or the ninth hour of the night ; morning-tide, or " the early 
watch," from the ninth to the twelfth hour of the night, or 
sunrise (John xviii. 28). 

3. Hours are not mentioned until the time of the Baby- 
lonish Captivity (Dan. iii. 6, 15 ; v. 5) ; after which the di- 
vision of the day into twelve hours gradually came into com- 
mon use. But as it was the natural day which was thus 



SCIENCE AND ART. 



97 



divided, and as every hour was the twelfth portion of that day, 
the length of the hours was continually changing. The hours of 
chief note were the third, the sixth, and the ninth, which were 
the hours of prayer (Dan. vi. 10; Acts ii. 15; iii. 1; x. 9). 

4. The division of time into Weeks was first made at the 
Creation, which it was designed to commemorate (Gen. ii. 2, 
3). It continued to be observed till the Deluge (Gen. vii. 
10 ; viii. 10, 12 ; xxix. 27), and was afterwards extended 
into the various nations descended from Noah, although the 
object of it was eventually forgotten. The Jews distinguished 
the days of the week by their numerical order ; as, " first day 
of the week," " second day of the week," &c. 

5. The septenary period was applied more extensively by 
the Jews, than by any other people. Not only was every 
seventh day a day of rest, but every seventh year was a year 
of rest, called "the Sabbatic year;" and every seventh re- 
currence of the latter period was still more eminently cele- 
brated as the " year of Jubilee." During the whole of the 
Sabbatical year, the land lay fallow, the vine and the olives 
were not pruned, nor was any game taken or destroyed : 
whatever grew was the common right of all (Lev. xxv. 1-7). 
The fiftieth year, or the Jubilee, which was ushered in by the 
blowing of trumpets, was a year of general release ; debtors 
and prisoners obtained their freedom, and property which had 
been sold, reverted to the original owner or his heirs (Lev. 
xxv. 8-17). 

6. Months were originally regarded as the intervals of 
time between one new moon and another. The Israelites 
computed each of these intervals at thirty days ; as did also 
the ancient patriarchs ; for, at the Deluge, Noah reckoned 
one hundred and fifty days equal to five months. But twelve 
of such months made only three hundred and sixty days, a 
period which was soon found to be shorter than the natural 
year ; and, therefore, a thirteenth month was occasionally in- 
tercalated after the month Adar. Originally the months had 
no names, but, like the days, were distinguished by their nu- 
merical order, with the exception of the first month, which 
was called Abib, or, " the month of young ears of corn " 
(Exod. xiii. 4, &c.) During the Captivity the Babylonish 
names of the months were adopted. 

F 



9S 



INTKODUCTION. 



7. There were two kinds of Years in use among the Jews. 
The first was the civil year, which commenced in September, 
and by which they computed their jubilees, and all their civil 
and rural affairs. The other was the sacred year, which ap- 
pears to have been first introduced by Moses, and by which 
the public feasts and all religious matters were computed : it 
commenced in March. The following are the Hebrew months, 
with the corresponding English months. 

1. Nisan, or Abib, corresponding to part of March and April. 



2. Zif, or Jyar April and May. 

3. Sivan May and June. 

4. Thammuz June and July. 

5. Ab Jnly and August. 

6. Elul August and September. 

7. Tisri September and October. 

8. Marchesvan October and November. 

9. Chisleu November and December. 

10. Thebet December and January. 

11. Sebat January and February. 

12. Adar February and March. 



There was also a sort of agricultural division of the year 
into six portions of two months each, under the names of 
seed-time, winter, the cold season, harvest, summer, and the 
hot season ; or " seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, sum- 
mer and winter" (Gen. viii. 22). 

8. The Israelites were so much devoted to agriculture 
that the arts received little attention from them. After the 
extinction of the generation which came from Egypt, we find 
but faint traces of the arts which they had learned in that 
country. Every family furnished for itself whatever it re- 
quired in the way of food and clothing, so that the only re- 
gular mechanics were masons, carpenters, smiths, and potters. 
For the first two there appears to have been little employ- 
ment till the time of the kings ; the fabrication of arms and 
ornaments afforded more occupation for the workers in 
metals ; and the fragile wares of the potter were always in 
demand. That the Israelites did not attain superior skill in 
any manufacture is shewn by the fact, that they took only 
agricultural produce to the markets of Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 17). 
Solomon was obliged to obtain assistance from the Phoenicians 
to enable him to build and furnish his temple and palaces, 
and even the humbler works of David required similar assis- 



SCIENCE AND ART. 



99 



tance (1 Chron. xiv. 1 ; xxii. 15 ; 2 Chron. ii. 3, &c.) After 
the impulse given by the public works of these two kings, and 
as the population and luxury increased, artisans of various 
kinds became more numerous (2 "Kings xxiv. 14 ; Jer. xxiv. 
1 ; xxix. 2). The employments and habits of the Israelites 
were greatly changed during the Captivity. In Babylonia, 
many of them finding but little encouragement in agricultural 
pursuits, turned their attention to the arts and trade, for which 
that country offered eminent advantages. After the restora- 
tion, agriculture continued to engage the chief attention of 
the Jews who actually lived in Palestine ; but the great num- 
bers who were dispersed throughout foreign lands, lived chiefly 
by trade and the useful arts. Indeed, a practical knowledge 
of these arts was at length so much esteemed, that it was 
held a duty of all parents to have their sons taught some 
manual craft ; and the Jews mention many learned men of 
their nation who lived by such employments. Thus, many of 
the persons mentioned in the New Testament history prac- 
tised some trade. Joseph, the husband of Mary, was a car- 
penter (Matt. xiii. 55) ; Simon was a tanner (Acts ix. 43) ; 
Alexander, a coppersmith (2 Tim. iv. 14) ; and Paul and 
Aquila were tent-makers (Acts xviii. 3). 

9. Music and poetry were much cultivated among the He- 
brews, and their best poets were somethnes their best musi- 
cians, singing their own compositions to the harp (1 Sam. xvi. 
18). The harp (kinnor), or rather a kind of lyre, was the 
national musical instrument. Its shape and the number of 
its strings are not known with certainty, and appear to have 
varied in different ages ; but it seems to have been small and 
portable (2 Sam. vi. 5, 14 ; Ps. cxxxvii. 2) . There was 
another kind of harp called a psaltery fnebel) ; and there were 
also straight and bent trumpets, two or three kinds of pipes, 
tambourines or tabrets, cymbals, and probably sistrums. The 
Jews seldom neglected any opportunity of introducing music. 
It was used at their private entertainments and public festi- 
vals ; and, by the arrangement of David, a splendid establish- 
ment for sacred music, performed by well-instructed Levites, 
was associated with the public worship (1 Chron. xxv.) 

10. Dancing was frequently connected with music among 
the Jews. It was sometimes an act of religious exultation 



100 



INTRODUCTION. 



(Exod. xv. 20 ; 2 Sam. vi. 16), and was common on all ordi- 
nary occasions of mirth and rejoicing (Ps. xxx. 1 1 ; Jer. xxxi. 
4, 13 ; Luke xv. 25), as well as at the great festivals (Judges 
xxi. 19, 21), and on triumphal occasions (Judges xi. 34 ; 1 
Sam. xviii. 6). The precise character of the Hebrew dances 
is not known, but no ideas of levity were connected with 
them. The proud-spirited Michal despised David, not because 
he danced, but because he danced with the common people 
(2 Sam. vi. 16, 20-23). 




90. 



[1, 2, 3, 4, Ancient Horns and Curved Trumpets ; 5, Straight Trumpet ; 6, Pipe.] 




92. Sistra— various Egyptian specimens. 



102 



SECTION IIL-COMMEBCE AM) WAR. 

1. The ancient Israelites were not a commercial people ; 
nor did the Law of Moses afford much encouragement to 
what was calculated to promote that intercourse with other 
nations, which it was the object of so many of the Jewish in- 
stitutions to prevent. They had no maritime traffic, and ships 
are rarely mentioned, except in connection with the spirited 
attempts of Solomon and Jehoshaphat to establish a commerce, 
through the Red Sea, with the shores of the Indian Ocean. 
The former, having the aid of Phoenician ships and mariners, 
was not unsuccessful ; but the operations begun in his reign 
were broken off in the troubles which afterwards ensued, and 
Jehoshaphat's attempt to revive them proved abortive (1 Kings 
ix. 26; xxii. 48, 49; 2 Chron. ix. 21; xx. 36). Joppa, 
which was the only harbour in the Mediterranean belonging 
to the Jews, was the port of Jerusalem (2 Chron. ii. 16), and 
Phoenician vessels of some burden resorted to it (Jonah i. 3). 
It was much improved in the time of Simon Maccabaeus ; but 
was ultimately superseded by Csesarea, after Herod the Great 
had formed a better harbour there by the construction of 
magnificent moles. 

2. At the time the Jewish history commences, the land 
traffic of Western Asia had become something more than 
mere barter. In the time of Abraham silver had become the 
medium of exchange ; but it was estimated by weight (Gen. 
xxiii. 16). The weight most in use was the shekel, which 

was nearly half an oimce. No distinct 
mention is made of coined money, or of 
any other metallic medium of exchange 
than silver, till after the Captivity. Gold, 
although of course estimated highly 
above silver, was, even so late as the 
time of David, known only as a costly 

Persian Dane. Qf merc l ianc |i se? pr0 p e r for trinkets, 

arms, and rich works in metal. The most ancient coin which 




COMMERCE AND WAR. 



103 



history makes known was the Persian dark, a gold coin 
somewhat heavier than a guinea ; and this is also the first 
coin mentioned in the Bible (1 Chron. xxix. 7 ; Ezra ii. 69 ; 
viii. 27 ; Neh. vii. 70-72). Dming the Captivity, and for 
some time after it, the Jews used the coins of the nations to 
which they were subject. The first coinage by themselves 
was under Simon Maccabaeus (1 Mac. xv. 6), who issued a 
currency under the 
name of shekels. 
These coins were 
mostly silver, and 
were worth nearly 
half- a- crown ; but 
some were of gold, 
and, in the propor- 
tion which gold now 
bears to silver, must 
have been worth 
nearly two pounds 
sterling. Greek and 
Roman coins also 
came into use, the 
latter of which are 
frequently mention- 
ed in the New Tes- 
tament. Their value 
may be seen in the tables prefixed to this work. But it must 
be remembered, that the value affixed merely expresses the 
present English value of such a quantity of metal. G-old and 
silver were probably scarcer in ancient times than now, and 
therefore of higher relative value. It is possible that a given 
quantity of silver or gold may have purchased as much as ten 
times the same quantity will purchase now ; and in that case 
a shekel of silver, equivalent to nearly half-a-crown, was 
really worth as much as five-and-twenty shillings in this 
country, at the present time. But all this is uncertain ; and 
it is possible that the quantities of the precious metals exist- 
ing in ancient times, from sources, the subsequent exhaustion 
of which, rendered them scarce until the discovery of America, 
has been greatly underrated in common opinion. 




104 



INTRODUCTION. 



3. Prior to the introduction of coins among the Israelites, 
the use of weights and balances was necessary in all sales and 
purchases. Scales were commonly employed, but an instru- 
ment on the principle of the modern steel-yard also came into 
use. The weights were originally stones ; and hence the 
word for a weight denotes a stone in the Hebrew. Dealers 
were in the habit of carrying balances and weights about with 
them in a kind of pouch (Lev. xix. 35, 36 ; Deut. xxv. 
13-15 ; Prov. xi. 1 ; xvi. 11 ; Mic. vi. 11) ; and the frequent 
injunction against the use of " divers weights," applies to 
those who carried in their bags two sets of weights, lighter 
and heavier, which they used fraudulently, as they had oppor- 
tunity. 

4. Among the Israelites, the soldiers were not a separate 
class, as in Europe, but every adult male was considered 
liable to bear arms, the priests and Levites not excepted. 
They were like a militia, and were called out in such propor- 
tion as the public service required, the whole body not being 
expected to take the field except on very extraordinary occa- 
sions. All the adult males, above the age of twenty, were 
enrolled, and from them the necessary levy was drawn by the 
genealogists. When a man was required to engage in mili- 
tary service, he might claim exemption on any of the follow- 
ing grounds ; 1. If he had built a house, and had not occu- 
pied it ; 2. If he had planted a vineyard or oliveyard, and 
had not yet eaten of the produce ; 3. If he had espoused a 
wife, but had not yet taken her home ; 4. If he were faint- 
hearted (Deut. xx. 5-8). All the Israelites being thus re- 
garded as fighting-men, we perceive how it was that large 
armies were often raised in a very short time (Judges xx. 
8-11, 17 ; 1 Sam. xi. 1-9). But they could be kept together 
only for a brief campaign, as every man served at his own ex- 
pense (1 Sam. xvii. 13, 17). This inconvenience, and others 
of a similar kind, made the kings desirous of having a body 
of troops always at command. Hence Saul, instead of dis- 
banding the whole army after his first campaign, retained three 
thousand in arms (1 Sam. xiii. 1, 2). David kept up a much 
larger number ; but still they were only militia, in twelve 
legions of twenty-four thousand men each, which relieved one 
another in monthly rotation, so that each legion was one month 



COMMERCE AND WAR, 



105 



in service and eleven at home (1 Chron. xxvii). Later kings 
appear to have followed this example more or less ; bnt we 
do not find that there were ever soldiers by profession among 
the Israelites. The mercenary soldiers of the Herods were 
foreigners. 

5. The armies of the Israelites were composed entirely of 
infantry till the time of the kings. Cavalry was of little use 
in a mountainous country, and was discouraged by the law 
(Deut. xvii. 16). David had a hundred horses, more for shew 
than use (2 Sam. viii. 4) ; but Solomon maintained a large 
number of horses and chariots of war (2 Chron. ix. 25). After 
him, however, the kings appear to have had no considerable 
force in cavalry, except when they obtained succours from 
Egypt. The infantry were divided into light-armed troops 
and spearmen : the former were furnished with slings, darts, 
bows and arrows, quivers, and in later times, bucklers ; the 
spearmen had spears, swords, and shields (1 Chron. xii. 24, 
34; 2 Chron. xiv. 8; xvii. 17). We can collect little from 
Scripture respecting the order of battle ; but there can be 
little doubt that, as among other nations, the light- armed 
troops made the onset ; and that the main body following, 
with extended spears, made a rapid and impetuous rush upon 
the enemy. If the enemy's front remained unbroken they 
withdrew, and again came on in like manner. They advanced 
to the charge with a shout (Josh. vi. 20 ; Judges vii. 20 ; 1 
Sam. xvii. 52). Battles were very sanguinary, and the 
slaughter immense, because quarter was seldom expected or 
given ; and the soldiers being often engaged hand to hand, 
the animosity and passions of the combatants were furiously 
excited. The barbarities committed by the conquerors upon 
the conquered were generally very revolting. Prisoners of 
distinction were often grievously maltreated (Josh. x. 24 ; 
Judges i. 6, 7 ; 2 Kings xxv. 7) ; and the captured soldiers 
were either kept in hard bondage, or sold as slaves (2 Sam. 
xii. 31; 2 Chron. xviii. 10; Psalm xliv. 12). When a 
town was taken by assault, all the men were slain, and the 
women and children sold into slavery. 

6. Like all Orientals, the Israelites were averse to under- 
take sieges, in which they had but little skill. Sudden and 
violent onsets, stratagem, treachery, or famine, were the means 



106 



INTRODUCTION. 




employed for taking towns. When the siege was much pro- 
tracted, an extended ditch was sometimes dug between the 

camp and the city, and 



another parallel to it. 
behind the camp, for the 
purpose of protecting it 
in front and rear, and 
of cutting off from the 
town all assistance and 
supplies (Deut. xx. 19, 
20; 2 Sam. xx. 15). 
The earth thrown up 
formed a wall on which towers were sometimes erected ; or 
else it formed a mound against the city wall on which the 
besiegers might plant 
their engines, if they 
had any, project their 
missiles, and assail 
the wall (2 Sam. xx. 
15; 2 Kings xix. 32). 
In later times batter- 
ing-rams were used 
in the assault of towns 
(Ezek. iv. 1, 2 ; xxi. 
22; xxvi. 9); and 
engines of defence, 

for easting large _ „ ,. . 

° ° 97. B atis ta, 

stones and other mis- 
siles, were introduced in the reign of King Uzziah (2 Chron. 
xxvi. 15). 

7. The commander-in-chief of the army was called the 
captain of the host. Joshua was the first who held this office. 
After him the command was taken by the " Judges," who were 
successively raised up to deliver the nation. Under the kings, 
the command of the army was maintained as a distinct ofhce, 
the possessor of which was of the highest rank and influence ; 
although, in action, the kings themselves often took the chief 
command (Josh. v. 14 ; Judges iv. 2 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 50 ; 2 
Sam. xx. 23 ; 2 Kings iv. 13). The whole army appears to 
have been formed into three errand divisions, each commanded 




COMMERCE AND WAR. 



107 



by a general, but the whole under the commander-in-chief 
(Judges vii. 16, 20 ; 1 Sam. xi. 11 ; 2 Sam. xviii. 2) ; and 
these were subdivided into bodies of ten thousand, a thousand, 
a hundred, and fifty, each under its appropriate commander. 
These commanders were generally the paternal chiefs of the 
clans and families from which the troops were levied (1 Sam. 
viii. 12 ; 2 Kings i. 9 : 1 Chron. xii. 14 ; 2 Chron. xxv. 5). 




93. Egyptian War Chariot. 



PAST V.— INSTITUTIONS. 



SECTION I. -RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 



1. The Tabernacle, erected by Moses in the wilderness, was 
not only the temple of God, but his palace — the place of his 
presence and residence as king of the Hebrew nation ; and 
this two-fold character was preserved in its furniture, utensils, 

and ministers. It was 
of an oblong rectan- 
gular figure, 55 feet 
in length, 18 in 
breadth, and 18 in 
height. The inside 
was divided into two 
rooms by a veil or 
curtain hung upon 
four pillars. This 
cmtain was made of 
rich stuff, curious- 
ly embroidered with 
figures of cherubim, 
and other ornaments. 
In the inner and smal- 
ler room, called the 
" Holy of Holies,'' 
was placed the ark, 
which was an oblong 

99. The Tabernacle. c k est f wood, Over- 

laid with gold, and surmounted by two golden figures of 
cherubim with outstretched wings. Above them appeared a 
mysterious resplendence, which symbolised the presence of 




RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 



109 




101. 

Different Representations of the Ark. 



110 



INTRODUCTION. 



the Divine King. In the ark were kept the tables of stone 
on which the ten commandments were written. Beside the 

ark were laid up for 
^ ' ^ memorial a quantity 



xxv. 31-39); 3, The table of wood, overlaid with gold, called 
the table of shew-bread, from the bread which was always 
kept upon it, and renewed every week (Exod. xxv. 23-30). 

2. Around the Tabernacle was an extensive area or court, 
formed by curtains of fine twined linen, hung upon pillars, 
which were set in bases of brass, and filleted with silver. Of 
these pillars there were twenty on each side, and ten at each 
end, five cubits apart (Exod. xxvii. 9-19). In this court all 
the public services of religion were performed, all sacrifices 
were offered, and all offerings made. It contained the great 
brazen altar for burnt- offerings, which was five cubits square, 
and three in height, with prominences at the corners, called 
"horns" (Exod. xxvii. 1-8 ; Psalm cxviii. 27). On this altar 
the sacrifices were consumed by fire which was miraculously 
kindled at first, and was always preserved afterwards (Lev. 
ix. 24). In the court of the Tabernacle also stood the large 
brazen laver, at which the priests were to perform their ablu- 
tions before they approached the altar (Exod. xxx. 15-21). 

3. The Temple of Solomon was built on the same plan as 
the Tabernacle, and contained the same furniture and uten- 




of manna in a vase of 
gold, the rod of Aaron 
that budded, and a 
copy of the book of 
the law (Exod. xxv. 
1-22; Deut. xxxi. 26 ; 
Heb. ix. 4). In the 
anteroom were placed, 
1, The golden altar on 
which incense was 
burnt daily (Ex. xxx. 
1-10); 2, The massive 
and highly ornamen- 
ted seven - branched 
golden "candlestick" 
or lamp stand (Exod. 



102. Golden Altar. 



EELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 



Ill 




104. Brazen Altar. 



112 



INTRODUCTION. 



sils ; but it was much larger, the materials were more costly 
and durable, and the workmanship was more elaborate. In- 
stead of one court there were three, the innermost of which 
corresponded to the court of the Tabernacle ; and the cur- 
tained enclosure was supplied by walls and colonnades. 

4. It does not appear that there were in the towns any 
synagogues, or places of religious meeting, before the Capti- 
vity; but under the Asamonean princes they became common. 
They were plain and impretending buildings, in which the 
Jews assembled on the Sabbath to offer prayers, to hear the 
sacred books read, and to receive instruction. They are often 
mentioned in the New Testament (Matt. iv. 23 ; Acts vi. 9 ; 
ix. 2 ; xiii. 5, &c.) 

5. As the Tabernacle was not only the Temple of God, 
but the palace of the Divine King ; so the priests and Levites 
were not only sacerdotal ministers, but were at the same time 
his officers of state and the guards of his palace. The cir- 
cumstances under which the tribe of Levi was set apart to this 
service, and one family of that tribe, the family of Aaron, spe- 
cially consecrated to the priestly office, will claim to be noticed 
in the ensuing history. Aaron was consecrated by Moses as 
the first high priest, and his sons officiated as priests under 
him (Lev. viii.) Their duties were to offer sacrifices, to burn 
incense, and to bless the people ; and it was death for any 
others to perform these offices (Num. xvi. 10 ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 
16-21) ; although we read of some of the prophets in distant 
places, and on extraordinary occasions, offering sacrifices (1 
Sam. xiii. 8-14 ; xvi. 1-5 ; 1 Kings xviii. 21-40). The in- 
ner chamber of the Tabernacle, containing the ark, was never 
entered but by the high priest, and even by him only once in 
the year, when he made a ceremonial atonement for the sins 
of the nation. This was called the " day of atonement " 
(Lev. xvi.) 

6. The priests, when not engaged in their sacerdotal 
duties, dressed like other men ; but when they were so em- 
ployed, their tunics, drawers, girdles, and turbans, were all of 
white linen (Exod. xxxix. 27, 28). The high priest wore 
this dress only on the day he entered the most holy place ; 
but his regular official dress was very splendid. Over the 
white tunic he wore a blue woollen robe, affixed to the hem 



RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 



113 



of which were small golden bells, separated by artificial pome- 
granates (Exod. xxviii. 31-34). Over this was a short 
sleeveless garment, called an " ephod," of fine twisted linen, 
inwrought with purple and gold, and having on each shoulder- 
strap a precious stone, engraven with the names of the twelve 
tribes (Exod. xxviii. 5-12). The " breast-plate of judgment " 
was the greatest ornament of the dress. It was a span square, 
and was composed of twelve precious stones, set in a doubled 
piece of the same rich cloth which composed the ephod. On 




105. The High Priest. 



each stone was graven the name of one of the twelve tribes 
(Exod. xxviii. 15-21). On his head the high priest wore a 
kind of mitre, to the front of which was fastened a plate of 
gold, inscribed with Hebrew words, meaning, " Holiness unto 
the Lord" (Exod. xxviii. 36-38). To the breast-plate be- 
longed the Urim and Thummim, by which the priest was 
enabled to ascertain the will of the Divine King on any 
matter submitted to him ; but in what manner the response 
was given has not been very satisfactorily determined. Some 
f2 



114 



INTRODUCTION. 



think that when the high priest, wearing the breast-plate, 
appeared in the holy place with his face turned towards the 
ark, he became officially qualified to receive an oral answer to 
such questions as he uttered. Others presume that, as the 
twelve stones of the breast-plate bore the names of the twelve 
tribes, the letters composing the response were in some way 
or other supernaturally distinguished from the rest. 

7. The priests had become so numerous in the time of 
David, that they could not all be employed at the same time 
in their sacred duties ; and therefore the king divided the 
whole body into twenty-four companies or courses, which served 
in weekly rotation (1 Chron. xxiv.) Each course had its 
own head or chief; and these are supposed to be the "chief 
priests " so often mentioned in the New Testament. The tribe 
of Levi had originally been divided into three classes, accord- 
ing to their descent from Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the 
three sons of Levi. The office of the Levites was to assist 
the priests, by slaughtering the victims, and by providing and 
preparing whatever was necessary for the sacred services. 
They commenced their service at the age of twenty-five, and 
retired at fifty (Numbers viii. 5-26). In the wilderness they 
encamped with the priests around the Tabernacle, and formed 
its guard. They also set it up, took it down, and conveyed 
it from place to place (Num. iv. 1-20). In later times, David 
divided the whole body into three classes, each of which was 
subdivided into twenty-four courses, which attended in weekly 
rotation. The first class attended upon the priests in their 
services ; the second formed the choir of singers in the Temple ; 
and the third acted as porters and guards in the Temple, and 
at its gates (1 Chron. xxiv. 20-30 ; xxv. xxvi.) 

8. As the tribe of Levi, hi order that it might be more 
completely detached from secular employments, received no 
share in the distribution of the land, it was necessary to pro- 
vide in some other way for its maintenance. In addition, 
therefore, to the produce of the belt of land around the forty- 
eight cities assigned for their residence, the Levites received 
from the other tribes the tenth, or tithe, of all the produce of 
the country, including live stock (Lev. xxvii. 30 ; Num. xviii. 
20-24 ; xxxv. 1-8). A tenth of this tithe was the share of 
the priests, who had also thirteen of the forty-eight cities. 



RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 



115 



There was another tithe, the produce of which the people 
were themselves to expend in feast-offerings, to which the 
Levites were to be invited (Dent. xiv. 22—27). 

9. The sacrifices which the law required the Israelites to 
offer to G-od, were divided into four kinds : — 1. The Burnt- 
offering, which was wholly consumed upon the altar (Lev. i.) ; 
2. The Sin-offering, which was a sacrifice offered in ceremo- 
nial expiation of sins of ignorance, and of legal pollution. Of 
this class of offerings, only certain fat portions were consumed 
on the altar, the rest belonging to the priests (Lev. iv.) ; 3. 
The Trespass-offering, which is not clearly distinguishable from 
the former, but is supposed by some to refer to sins of omis- 
sion ; the sin-offering referring to sins of commission (Lev. v.) ; 
4. The Peace for Feast) -offering which was eaten by the 
offerer and his Mends, after the fat parts had been burnt on 
the altar, and a small portion given to the priests (Lev. iii.) 
All these sacrifices were only occasional : but there were others 
regular and national ; such as the daily sacrifice of two lambs, 
as burnt -offerings, one in the morning and the other in the 
evening, with each of which was offered a bread-offering, and 
a drink-offering of strong wine (Ex. xxix. 38, 41). This sac- 
rifice was doubled on the Sabbath-day (Num. xxviii. 9, 10). 
There were also large and extraordinary sacrifices at the new 
moons, and at the annual recurrence of the great festivals. 

10. Sacrifices were limited to three kinds of cattle, — oxeu. 
sheep, and goats ; but all clean birds were allowed, although, 
practically, doves only appear to have been offered (Lev. xiv. 
4—7). To ensure unity of worship, sacrifices could only be 
offered on the one altar at the Tabernacle, and afterwards at 
the Temple, whither all gifts and oblations were to be brought 
(Lev. xvii. 8, 9) ; but before the Captivity this regulation 
was much neglected, even in the best times. 

11. The festivals of the Israelites were weekly, monthly, 
and annual. The weekly festival was the Sabbath, on which 
they rested from all labour, and double sacrifices were offered 
(Exod. xx. 8-11). After the Captivity, when Synagogues 
were built in the several towns, the people assembled in them 
on the Sabbath-day to hear the sacred books read and ex- 
pounded .^Luke iv. 16 ; Acts xiii. 15). The monthly festival 
was that of the new moon, which was proclaimed by the sound 



116 



INTRODUCTION. 



of trumpets, and at which additional sacrifices were offered. 
The great annual festivals prescribed by the law were three, 
each of them of a week's continuance ; and at their celebra- 
tion all the adult males in Israel were required to appear at 
the place of the Sanctuary (Exod. xxiii. 14-17). 1. The 
Passover was kept in remembrance of the departure from 
Egypt. It began on the eve of the fourteenth day of the first 
month, with the eating of the Paschal Lamb, and was con- 
tinued through the week, during which no leavened bread 
was to be eaten. On the sixteenth day, the first ripe ears of 
corn were offered, and till that was done the early harvest 
could not be commenced (Exod. xii. 1—27 ; Lev. xxiii. 9-14 . 
2. Seven weeks after the commencement of the Passover, 
when the labours of the harvest were usually completed, was 
the feast of Pentecost, which also continued for seven days. 
This was, properly, the haiwest festival, in which the nation 
offered thanks to God for the bounties of the season, and pre- 
sented the first-fruits, in bread baked of the new corn (Lev. 
xxiii. 15-21). 3. In autumn was the feast of Tabernacles or 
of Booths, which commenced on the fifteenth day of the 
seventh month. It celebrated the sojourn of the Israelites in 
the wilderness ; and was also a festival of thanks for the fruits 
of autumn, whence it was called the Feast of Ingathering. 
During this festival the people dwelt in booths, formed of green 
boughs interwoven ; they also carried green boughs in their 
hands, and the rejoicing was very great fLev. xxiii. 34-43). 

12. The only other periodical celebrations prescribed by 
the Mosaical Law, were the Feast of Trumpets and the Day 
of Atonement. The first was held on the first and second 
days of the month Tisri, and celebrated the co mm encement 
of the civil year, which was ushered in by the blowing of 
the sacerdotal trumpets with unusual solemnity ; and hence 
the name of the feast (Lev. xxiii. 23-25 ). The Day of Atone- 
ment was the only periodical fast prescribed by the law. It 
occurred on the tenth day of the same month, between the 
feast of trumpets and that of tabernacles. It was a strict 
fast, when the people bewailed the sins of the past year, and 
a ceremonial expiation was made by the High Priest, who, 
on that day only, entered the most holy place, where he 
sprinkled the blood of a goat which had been sacrificed. This 



RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 



117 



goat was one of two, which were appointed by lot to then 
several destinations. The other, after the sins of the people 
had been confessed over it, and laid upon its head, was sent 
away alive to be lost in the wilderness (Lev. xvi. 7-10, 15, 
20-22). 

13. There were two other feasts, which, although not 
appointed by the law, or belonging to the more ancient times, 
became of considerable note. The Feast of Purim, which is 
still observed in two days of rejoicing, was instituted to cele- 
brate the overthrow of Hainan's plot for the extirpation of the 
Jews (Esther ix. 20-32). The other was the Feast of Dedi- 
cation, instituted by Judas Maccabauis, to celebrate the re- 
establishment of public worship at Jerusalem, after Antiochus 
Epiphanes had been vanquished and the Temple purified 
fl Mac. iv. 59; John x. 22). 




106. Altars. 



[1, 2, 3, Greek. 4 ; Egyptian. 5, Babylonian. 6, Roman. 7, S ; Persian." 



118 



SECTION II. -POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 

1. The theory of the Hebrew constitution supposed that 
God himself was the King and General Governor of the 
nation ; the high priest being his minister, and the interpreter 
of his will. From the time of Joshua to that of the kings, 
there was not a regular succession of human governors ; for 
the authority of the " Judges" was by no means general, and 
was often intermitted. There were, however, an internal 
government and authority, in the several tribes, sufficient for 
domestic purposes. Each of the tribes was divided into 
" families," and these were again divided into " houses of 
fathers," and each section had its head or chief, called an 
"elder" (Josh, xxiii. 2; xxiv. 1). There appears also to 
have been a paternal chief, who represented the eldest branch 
of the whole tribe, and to whom the sectional chiefs were 
subordinate. We find these " princes" of tribes still subsist- 
ing in the time of David (1 Chron. xviii. 1) ; but their autho- 
rity declined and passed away when a strong central govern- 
ment came to be established. 

2. By the constitution, as originally established by Moses, 
the consent of all the tribes was required to give effect to 
public measures. As it was impossible to bring a matter 
efficiently before a whole nation at once, a certain number of 
persons must have been deputed to represent the tribes and 
families in the general convention or " assembly." These 
representatives are mentioned more than once (Num. i. 16 ; 
xvi. 2), and they appear to have been the heads of families 
and houses, already mentioned, together with the judges and 
officers (Deut. xxix. 10 ; Josh, xxiii. 2). By the advice of 
Jethro his father-in-law, Moses appointed judges of thousands, 
hundreds, and tens, allowing an appeal from one to another, 
and, hi the last instance, to himself. As the judges of tens 
were in number sixty thousand, it is most likely that the 
judges of thousands only were called to the convention. 
This was in the wilderness. When settled in Canaan, they 
were to have magistrates in every city (Deut. xvi. 18). The 



POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



119 



persons named " officers," or scribes, existed among the 
Israelites in Egypt (Exod. v. 6-14), and appear to have had 
the duty of keeping the genealogical tables of the Israelites, 
and of apportioning to individuals their share of the services 
which were reqiiired of the nation. This class of men sub- 
sisted long afterwards, with modified duties, and seems to 
have been chiefly composed of members of the Levitical tribe. 

3. The offices of Moses and Joshua were merely tempo- 
rary ; that of the one being to organise the nation, and that 
of the other to establish it in Canaan. These were different 
offices ; and Joshua had no successor. But anticipating that 
the people would ultimately desire to have a king, like other 
nations, Moses took care to provide for that contingency. 
He reserved the right of nomination to God, the supreme 
King, yet not so as to preclude the exercise of elective choice 
by the people ; and he laid down certain general principles 
by which the conduct of the future monarchs should be 
guided. Among other things, the king was to be a native 
Israelite ; he was not to maintain a numerous cavalry ; and 
he was not to take many wives (Deut. xvii. 15-17). The 
first king, Saul, was accordingly nominated by God, through 
his prophet, then chosen by lot, and finally accepted by the 
people. After the rejection of Saul, the house or dynasty of 
David was established. He was accordingly nominated, by 
anointing, in Saul's lifetime, and was afterwards called to the 
throne by the people, who knew of this nomination. The 
king was far from being an absolute monarch. When Saul 
was made king, the prophet Samuel drew up certain rules 
and limitations according to which he was to govern (1 Sam. 
x. 25) ; the eleven tribes, in receiving David for their king, 
required and obtained his assent to a similar compact (2 Sam. 
v. 3) ; and the refusal of Eehoboam to submit to some further 
limitations, caused ten of the tribes to renounce their allegi- 
ance to the house of David (1 Kings xii. 1-20). 

4. At his inauguration, the king went in state to some 
public place, or to the Temple, where he was anointed (1 Sam. 
x. 25 ; 2 Sam. ii. 4 ; v. 1-3 ; 2 Kings xi. 12-20 ; 2 Chron. 
xxiii.) crowned, took the sceptre (2 Sam. i. 10 ; Ps. xlv. 6 ; 
Ezek. xxi. 26), and received the kiss of homage (1 Sam. x. 1 ; 
Ps. ii. 12), after which he returned to the palace, amid the 



120 



INTRODUCTION. 



acclamations of the people (1 Sam. x. 24 ; 1 Kings i. 39), 
and seated himself upon the throne (1 Kings i. 35, 48; 2 
Kings ix. 13 ; xi. 19). On the same occasion, he took an 
oath to govern according to the law of Moses, and accepted 
the - covenant which defined the principles on which the 
government was to be conducted. He was thus not only- 
bound to keep the law himself, but he had not the power of 
making new laws, though he might promulgate temporary 
edicts. But, notwithstanding these limitations, the power of 
the ancient Hebrew kings was very great. They assumed 
the power of life and death, without the forms of judicature 
(2 Sam. i. 15 ; iv. 12), but appear to have exercised it only 
where the guilt of the offender was manifest, They also 
levied taxes for the support of the government (1 Sam. xvii. 
25 ; 1 Kings xii. 14). The revenues of the Crown arose not 
only from this source, from the spoils of successful wars, and 
from the tribute of subject provinces, but also from the pro- 
duce of arable lands and vineyards, of plantations, of olive 
and fig trees, of herds of kine, camels and asses, and of flocks 
of sheep (1 Chron. xxvii. 25-31). The estates of traitors 
lapsed to the Crown, by the accumulation of which forfeitures, 
and by purchases, a valuable royal demesne seems to have 
been ultimately formed. 

5. Saul and David, and the kings of Israel, appear to 
have lived with much plainness and simplicity, but Solomon 
and the succeeding kings of Judah affected more state and 
splendour. When they appeared in public, they were attended 
by guards and runners (2 Sam. xv. 1 ; 1 Kings i. 5), whose 
duty it was not only to defend the palace and to protect the 
sovereign himself, but to convey messages, edicts, and orders, 
to execute the royal commands, and to inflict death when 
awarded by the king. When the culprit was a person of 
rank, the captain of the guard executed the king's judgment 
upon him with his own hand (1 Kings ii. 25, 34). 

6. Several of the ministerial and household officers of the 
Hebrew kings are named in Scripture, from which some 
notion may be formed of the organisation of the government. 
There was a body of royal councillors, apparently chosen for 
their sagacity, and whose opinion was taken in public mea- 
sures (2 Sam. xvi. 15-23 ; 1 Kings xii. 6-11 ; 1 Chron. xxvii. 



POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



121 



32, &c.) The officer of state, corresponding to our prime 
minister, seems to have been the personage who is called the 
next (or second) to the king (1 Sam. xxiii. 17 ; Esth. x. 3 ; 
2 Chron. xxviii. 7). The Mazkir, or recorder, appears to 
have performed the duty of recording in the royal archives 
all the transactions of the court and government (2 Sam. viii. 
16 ; 2 Kings xviii. 18, 37). The Sopher, or scribe, was the 
secretary of state, who prepared and issued the edicts and 
orders of the Crown (2 Sam. viii. 17 ; xx. 25 ; 2 Kings 
xviii. 18). The Governor of the Palace was the steward of 
the royal household, who is a very high and influential officer 
in the East (1 Kings iv. 6 ; xviii. 3 ; 2 Kings xviii. 18). 
The King's Friend, or companion, was the intimate and 
endeared associate, with whom the king conversed most freely 
and familiarly (2 Sam. xv. 37 ; xvi. 16 ; 1 Kings iv. 5). 
There was an " Officer over the Taxes" (tribute), who seems 
to have been the minister of finance, receiving and accounting 
for all the revenue of the Crown (2 Sam. xx. 24 ; 1 Kings 
iv. 6). The Captain of the Guard was another court officer, 
who has already been mentioned. There was also an officer 
in each of the provinces, called the Prince of the Province, 
whose duty it was to collect the provisions required for the 
royal establishment (1 Kings iv. 5, 7-19; xix. 22, 23; xx. 
15; 1 Chron. xxvii. 25-31). 



G 



122 



SECTION m— JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS. 

1. The arrangement which had been made in the wilder- 
ness for the administration of justice, by judges of thousands, 
hundreds, fifties, and tens, ceased when the nation was settled 
in A Canaan ; and, as Moses directed, judges and scribes were 
appointed for every city, with jurisdiction over the surround- 
ing villages. Cases of great importance and appeals were car- 
ried to the chief civil ruler, or to the high priest (Deut. xvi. 18; 
xvii. 8, 9). This arrangement seems to have continued till 
the time of the Maccabees, when a supreme tribunal of justice 
was established at Jerusalem, composed of seventy members, 
and denominated the Sanhedrim. This was the great 
" council " of justice so often mentioned in the New Testa- 
ment. It was composed of chief priests ; of elders, or heads 
of large family associations ; and of scribes, or men of learn- 
ing, who were mostly Levites. The Jewish writers speak 
much of this institution. They state that its members sat in 
a semicircle, of which the president and vice-president occu- 
pied the centre, and that it was attended by secretaries and 
apparitors. This court tried appeals and other cases of 
importance. It was by a hasty and irregular assembly of 
its members, at the house of the high priest, that our Lord 
was tried (Matt. xxvi. 3, 57 ; John xviii. 24) ; but they 
could not themselves put him to death, as the power of capital 
punishment had been taken from them by the Romans. In 
later times, the district judicatures were so distributed, that, 
as Josephus states, there were seven judges, with two Levites 
as apparitors, in every city. This is that which is called 
; ' the judgment" in the New Testament. 

2. The courts of justice held their sittings in the morning 
(Psalm ci. 8 ; Jer. xxi. 12). As the gates of towns were the 
places of the greatest public resort, justice was administered, 
and civil business transacted there. This continued even 
after the Captivity (Gren. xxiii. 10, &c. ; Deut. xxi. 19 ; Ruth 
iv. 1, &c. ; Psalm cxxvii. 5 ; Prov. xxii. 22 ; Zech. viii. 16). 

3. The form of trial appears to have been very simple. 



JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



123 



The court consisted of a judge or judges, and, at least in later 
times, of a scribe, who wrote down the sentence, and the par- 
ticulars of the trial or cause. Before them stood the accused, 
the accuser, and the witnesses. Two witnesses were necessary 
to establish any charge, and they were examined separately, 
in the presence of the accused (Num. xxxv. 30 ; Dent. xvii. 
6 ; Matt. xxvi. 60). The sentence was pronounced soon after 
the examination, and, even when it decreed the punishment 
of death, was executed without delay (Joshua vii. 16-25 ; 
1 Sam. xxii. 18 ; 1 Kings ii. 23-25). In the earlier periods 
of J ewish history imprisonment was not used as a punishment. 
When it was necessary to keep a person in custody, he was 
put under a guard (Lev. xxiv. 12), or confined in an empty 
cistern (Gen. xl. 15 ; Jer. xxxvii. 15-20), or in the house of 
the judge. In later times, however, prisons were better 
known, and imprisonment was more usual (Matt. v. 25 ; 
xviii. 30; Acts xii. 4-10). Prisoners often wore chains or 
fetters of iron or brass (Judges xvi. 21 ; Psalm cv. 18 ; cvii. 10 ; 
Jer. xl. 4; lii. 11). In the time of Christ, the Jews had 
borrowed from other nations the practice of imprisoning for 
debt ; and the creditor seems to have had the power of 
demanding the application of stripes and torture (Matt. v. 26 ; 
xviii. 28-34). The vigilance and severity of the gaolers were 
sometimes enforced by their being subject to the punishment 
intended for their prisoners, if they allowed them to escape. 
Among the instruments of punishment, stocks for the feet are 
mentioned at a very early period (Job xiii. 27 ; xxxiii. 11). 

4. With regard to punishments generally, the theory of 
the law was that life should be given for life, eye for eye, 
tooth for tooth, &c. (Exod. xxi. 23-25). But this was only 
done literally in the matter of life for life ; in all other cases, 
indemnification equivalent to the damage sustained might be 
made by the offender to the sufferer (Exod. xxi. 30). Ins- 
titution, to twice the value of the property stolen, was the 
general punishment for theft ; but, in some cases, the resti- 
tution was fourfold, or even fivefold (Exod. xxii. 1-6). If 
the thief was unable to make restitution, he was sold as a 
slave, and the price applied to that purpose ; and if the full 
amount was not thus made up, his wife and children were 
also sold (Exod. xxii. 3 ; 2 Kings iv. 1). 



124 



INTRODUCTION. 



5. There was only one kind of secondary corporal punish- 
ment — scourging. This was usually inflicted with a rod upon 
the back of the prostrate culprit. The blows could, in no 
case, exceed forty ; and to prevent an inadvertent excess, the 
number was practically restricted to thirty-nine (Deut. xxv. 
2, 3 ; Matt. x. 17 ; 2 Cor. xi. 24). A kind of scourge, called 
a scorpion — composed of thongs set with sharp iron points — 
appears to have been used for torture (1 Kings xii. 11). The 
punishment of scourging was chiefly applied to offences against 
the ceremonial law ; and, in later times, it was usually inflicted 
in the synagogues. To such offences, also, was applicable the 
punishment of excommunication, which, in a theocratical state 
like that of the Hebrews, was as much a civil as an ecclesi- 
astical punishment, and involved many afflictive privations 
(Num. xv. 30, 31). But if an offence liable to this punish- 
ment was committed inadvertently, the party might exonerate 
himself of the penalties, by confessing his error, and present- 
ing a " trespass-offering" for sacrifice (Num. xv. 28, 29). 

6. The crimes punished with death were murder, adultery, 
unnatural crimes, and gross misconduct to parents, also ido- 
latry and Sabbath-breaking, which were acts of treason against 
the Supreme Head of the theocratical government. The 
common and national mode of inflicting the punishment of 
death was by casting stones at the culprit; but when the 
punishment was ordered by a king or military commander, it 
was usually inflicted by stabbing with a sword (Judges viii. 
21 ; 1 Sam. xxii. 18 ; 2 Sam. i. 5 ; 1 Kings ii. 25, 29, 31, 
34). Latterly decapitation came into use (Matt. xiv. 8-12; 
Acts xii. 2). The other modes of punishing with death, 
mentioned in Scripture, were inflicted by foreigners, not by 
Hebrews — such as crucifixion, which was a Eoman punish- 
ment, introduced into Palestine after the power over life had 
been taken from the Jews by their conquerors. 

7. There were also posthumous punishments, by which 
the memory of the deceased was rendered infamous. Of this 
kind was the hanging of the dead body on a tree or gallows ; 
but the law required that it should be taken down and buried 
the same day (Num. xxv. 4, 5 ; Deut. xxi. 22, 23). Another 
was, to burn to ashes the body of a person who had been 
stoned (Lev. xx. 14 ; xxi. 9 ; Joshua vii. 15, 25) ; and a 



JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



125 



third was, to raise a large heap of stones over the corpse 
(Josh. vii. 26 ; 2 Sam. xviii. 17). 

8. Another institution remains to be mentioned, which 
engages much attention in the law and early history of the 
Israelites. In early pastoral life it had been the custom, 
when a person was slain, for his next of kin to take upon him 
the office of avenger (in Hebrew, Goel), who rested not until 
he had taken the life of the homicide. A practice so liable 
to gross abuse, and calculated to entail endless blood-feuds, 
could not be endured in an organised community. The law, 
therefore, provided for the mitigation of its evils. Six cities, 
in different parts of the country, were appointed as " cities of 
refuge," to any one of which the unintentional man-slayer 
might hasten ; and when he reached it, and while he remained 
in it, he was safe from the avenger. This protection he con- 
tinued to enjoy till the death of the high priest, when he was 
at liberty to return home. But the shelter of these asylums 
was refused to actual murderers ; for although they might be 
received on their first arrival, yet, on their guilt being proved, 
they were delivered up to punishment (Num. xxxv. 9-34). 
The most laudable anxiety was manifested to secure to the 
homicide the just effect of this institution ; and, among other 
things, it was directed that the roads to the cities of refuge 
should be kept free from all obstruction (Deut. xix. 3). 



HISTORY OF PALESTINE. 



BOOK I. 



CHAPTER I. B.C. 2348 to 1909. 



PATEIAE.CHS. ASSYRIA. 
B.C. 

The Deluge . . . 2348 Empire founded by 
Confusion of Tonsrues 2230 iNirnrod or Ashur" 
Birth of Terah . . 2126 
Birth of Abraham . 1996 . 
First Call of Ahraham 1937 
Second Call, aud arrival 

in Canaan . . . 1921 
Defeat of Chedorlaomer 1912 | 



EGYPT. 

B.C. B.C. 

Suphis 1 2123 

2204 i Suphis II 2083 

i MoscherisorMencheris2043 

: Mnsthisr .... 2022 

; Pammus .... 2011 

Aphoph or Apappus . 2001 



1. Early after the Flood, the country which we now call 
Palestine became the habitation of a portion of the tribes 
descended from Canaan, the youngest son of Ham. Hence 
the country acquired its earliest name, the Land of Canaan ; 
and the inhabitants were, collectively, called Canaanites. At 
the time of Abraham the country was but thinly peopled, 
and the inhabitants were separated into the various nations, 
enumerated in the first section of the Introduction. These 
several nations were not united under a common head ; but 
each was kept together by a common name and parentage, 
and by local connection. In all these nations every town, 
with its vicinage, appears to have formed a separate common- 
wealth under its own Melek or " king." These kings appear 
to have been no other than the chief magistrates of the place, 
who were also leaders in war, and sometimes priests. Their 
authority was small, and they seem to have been unable to 
transact any important matter without the direct consent of 
their citizens. As there was abundant room in the land, the 



128 



THE DELUGE. 



vacant pasturages were abandoned to the pastoral chiefs of 
other tribes or nations, with whom the Canaanites exchanged 
their goods and the produce of then fields for the products of 
the flocks and herds. Then language, with probably some 
difference of dialect, was the same with that which Abraham 
brought from Mesopotamia. Their moral practices had 
become very offensive, and their notions of G-od and his 
government were wild and uncertain ; but there is no evi- 
dence that they were idolaters in the time of the Patriarchs. 

2. Our only knowledge of the social condition of the 
Canaanites is to be gathered from the few mtimations con- 
tained in the Book of Genesis. They lived in walled towns, 
at the gates of which public business was transacted ; they 
cultivated the ground, and raised corn and wine. Silver by 
weight was their medium of exchange, and it would seem 
that eveiy adult male was acquainted with the use of arms. 
Such were the people of Canaan, when their country was 
visited by the illustrious stranger whose descendants were to 
become its most celebrated inhabitants. The circumstances 
of that visit must now be explained. 

3. One thousand six hundred and fifty- six years after the 
Creation, the race of Man had become so guilty before G-od, 
that he swept them from the earth by a flood of waters. 
Only one family, of which Xoah was the father, was saved. 
Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, through 
whom the vacant world was again replenished with inhabi- 
tants. In about 400 years after the flood, the new races of 
mankind had also forgotten God, and had only some vague 
remembrance of that ancient promise of a Deliverer, who 
should crush the head of the Serpent, by whose seducements 
sin and sorrow were brought into the world (Gen. hi.) The 
world then seemed fast ripening for a new desolation : but 
G-od had sworn not again to destroy the earth for man's ini- 
quities (Gen. vhi. 21, 22). He chose rather to take one of 
the numerous tribes of men, and commit to its care the great 
truths which it was needful to keep alive in the world, until 
the time should come in which he purposed to make his will 
more fully known. These truths were, the knowledge of 
himself as the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, and of his 
promise to provide a Redeemer for mankind. 



FIRST CALL OF ABRAHAM. 



129 



4. The founder of this favoured tribe was Abraham (at 
first called Abram), a descendant of Shem, the son of Noah, 
in the line of Heber. He belonged to a wealthy pastoral 
family dwelling beyond the Euphrates, in that district in 
which the town of Ur (now Urfah) was situated. This 
family was not free from the general taint of idol- worship ; 
for we are told that Terah, the father of Abraham, and pro- 
bably also his sons, " served other gods" beyond the Euph- 
rates. Nevertheless, the God of Noah does not appear to 
have been altogether unknown ; and while the world at large 
lay in darkness, the last rays of departing truth still lingered 
upon the tents of Terah. Abraham was the yoimgest of 
three sons, the others being Haran and Nahor. Haran, the 
eldest, died early, leaving one son called Lot, and two 
daughters, Milcah and Sarah (at first called Sarai). Milcah 
became the wife of Nahor, and Sarah of Abraham. Nahor 
had children, but Abraham had none. 

5. Before the flood, the life of man had been very long ; 
after the flood, it gradually shortened ; but in the times of 
which we write, it was not yet reduced to its present limit of 
three score and ten years. Abraham, therefore, although 
sixty years of age, was still in the prime of life when God 
made himself known to him in a vision, and required him to 
leave his own country for another which should be made 
known to him (Acts vii. 2-4). He must have disclosed this 
mandate to his family ; for they all went with him from the 
land of then birth. But they proceeded no further than 
Haran, in another part of Mesopotamia. The cause we know 
not ; but in that neighbourhood they remained sixteen years, 
when Terah died, at the age of 205 years. (Gen. xi. 27-32). 

6. When Terah was dead, a second and more special call 
was received by Abraham, requiring him not only to quit his 
country, but his kindred, for a strange land. But this more 
strict requirement was accompanied with encouraging pro- 
mises of blessedness and renown ; and with the obscure inti- 
mation of some great distant blessing which the families of 
men should receive through him. With that undoubting 
faith and prompt and unquestioning obedience which he 
always exhibited, and for which he is much commended in 
the sacred books, Abraham separated himself from his brother 



130 



SECOND CALL OF ABRAHAM. 



Nahor, and departed. He was accompanied by his nephew 
Lot, the son of his deceased brother Haran ; and as both had 
great possessions of flocks, and herds, and slaves, a large 
caravan was doubtless formed by their union. They crossed 
the river Euphrates, and, traversing the deserts to the west, 
at length entered the land of Canaan, and first pitched their 
tents in the beautiful valley of Moreh, lying between the 
mountains of Ebal and G-erizim, in which the city of Shechem 
was afterwards built. 

7. In this early age there were no temples. Men wor- 
shipped their gods at altars erected in the open ah*, sometimes 
amid the shade of umbrageous groves. Their more solemn 
acts of worship consisted in the sacrifice of victims from their 
flocks or herds, or oblations of the fruits of the ground — corn, 
wine, and oil. So did the patriarchs worship G-od ; and many 
were the monuments of their piety, in the form of altars, which 
they erected in the land of their sojourning. 

8. The year after Abraham's entrance into Canaan, a great 
scarcity arose in that land. This was no doubt occasioned 
by the absence of the customary rains. But Egypt, whose 
fertility depends upon the overflowing of the Nile, was not 
affected by this drought, and continued to afford its usual 
abundance of corn. To Egypt, therefore, the patriarch 
repaired. Fearing to be slain for the sake of his wife Sarah, 
who was very beautiful, Abraham desired her to declare that 
she was his sister. The consequence was, that the king, 
hearing of her great beauty, sent and took her to his own 
palace; in return loading her alleged "brother" with valu- 
able gifts, such as befitted his condition — camels, asses, sheep 
and oxen, and men and women slaves. But the truth was 
soon made known, through the grievous disorders with which 
the Lord afflicted the king and his household as soon as 
Sarah came under his roof. He therefore sent her back, and 
after reproving Abraham for his conduct, desired him to with- 
draw from the country, probably fearing what might happen 
through the presence of a man who so manifestly enjoyed the 
special protection of G-od. 

9. So Abraham returned to Canaan very rich, not only 
in cattle, but in silver and gold. Proceeding northward, he 
came to his former station near Bethel, and encamped there. 



EEYOLT AND DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 131 

The increased substance of Abraham and Lot, made it diffi- 
cult to rmd sufficient pastures for the flocks of both in the 
same neighbourhood, and this led to frequent contentions 
between their shepherds. They therefore separated ; and 
Lot removed to the fertile and well-watered plain which the 
waters of the Dead Sea now cover. Here were the cities of 
Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zebohn, and Bela (afterwards 
Zoar). This enforced separation from the last of his kin was 
doubtless a great grief to Abraham. But he was comforted 
by the renewed promises of God, who again assured him of a 
numerous posterity, and directed him to go forth and survey 
more largely the fine country which was to become their 
heritage. He went first southward, and pitched his tent 
under the shade of a terebinth tree, in the pleasant valley of 
Mamre, near Hebron, where he remained a considerable time. 

10. The Assyrian empire, beyond the Euphrates, appears 
already to have risen to some importance, by reducing many 
petty kings to the condition of tributaries. The strength of 
these inferior chiefs appears to have been then employed in 
distinct and foreign expeditions, for the further aggrandize- 
ment of the empire to which they were subject. About four 
years before Abraham entered the land of Canaan, one of 
these princes, Chedorlaomer, whose own kingdom was Elam 
(probably Elymais, a district of south-western Persia), was 
intrusted with a command to extend the empire in the country 
west of the Euphrates. This he executed by rendering several 
nations tributary ; and he appears to have remained on this 
side the great river to keep his conquests in obedience.* 
After twelve years of subjection, and about eight years after 
the first arrival of Abraham in Canaan, some of the conquered 
nations revolted, and refused any longer to send their tribute. 
Among these were the petty " kings," or chiefs, in the five 
cities of the plain to which Lot had withdrawn. This 
brought upon them the vengeance of Chedorlaomer, who, 
with his former confederates, invaded and ravaged all the 

* It is right to apprise the reader that the above, as far as regards the Assyrian 
empire, and the position of Chedorlaomer and other kings nnder it, is not certain history ; 
but it is supported by circumstances, and seems to us a better explanation of the obscure 
intimations in Genesis, than the supposition that the king of Elam and others, from very 
distinct quarters, were independent kings, acting for themselves, and allied for the occa- 
sion. 



132 



DEFEAT OF CHEDORLAOMER. 



country east of the Jordan, defeated the five kings in a 
pitched battle, and retired with numerous captives and abun- 
dant spoil. Lot was among the captives. No sooner was 
intelligence of this brought to Abraham, who was still in the 
valley of Mamre, than he called out all his servants who 
were able to bear arms, in number three hundred and eighteen, 
and being joined by a few friendly native chiefs, set forth in 
pursuit. The invaders were overtaken near the source of the 
Jordan, and Abraham falling upon them suddenly by night, 
put them to utter rout, and pursued them to the neighbour- 
hood of Damascus. Thus was Lot delivered, and with him 
were recovered all the captives and spoil which had been 
taken. According to the war-laws of the East, all this prey 
had, by the act of recovery, become his own. This right 
was cordially recognised by the king of Sodom ; but with a 
generous pride the patriarch declined to appropriate the 
smallest portion of the spoil, lest it should be in the power 
of any one of the native princes to say that he had made 
Abraham rich. 

1 1 . His whole conduct on this occasion won the patriarch 
the esteem of the well-disposed native princes. One of them, 
Melchizedek (the just king), of whom we know nothing but 
that he also was one of the remaining worshippers of the true 
God, came forth from his town to meet the returning patriarch, 
blessed him, and supplied his people with victuals ; * and as 
the priestly functions were then exercised by kings and chiefs, 
he offered sacrifices for himself and Abraham to " the most 
high God, the maker of heaven and earth." After this the 
patriarch returned to his encampment at Mamre. 

* All kinds of victuals are understood as comprehended under the terms "bread," 
the chief article of food, and " wine," the chief article of drink. 



133 



CHAPTER II. B.C. 1909 to 1893. 



PATEIAECHS. 

Birth of Ishmael 1910 

Circumcision instituted ) -. 8Q7 

Sodom destroyed J ■ • • i89 ' 

Isaac born 1896 

Hagar dismissed 1893 



Acliescus Ocaras 
Mtocris . . . 



1901 
1900 



1. Abraham had been promised a numerous posterity. 
The promise was of some standing, but as yet there were no 
signs of its fulfilment : he had no child, nor seemed likely to 
have any. When he thought of this he was sometimes dis- 
couraged ; but the Lord condescended to enter into a formal 
covenant with him, not only to assure him that a son of his 
own should inherit his substance, but that the posterity of 
that son should become a nation, which, after being afflicted 
many years in a strange land, should return to take posses- 
sion of the beautiful country in which he himself lived as a 
stranger. But although Abraham was to be the father of 
this promised son, Sarah had not at any time been named 
as the mother. She had always been reputed barren ; and 
now that she was advanced in years, had given over all hope 
of children. She therefore recommended a course which was 
sanctioned by the ideas and usages of the time. She pro- 
posed that the patriarch should receive her own handmaid, 
Hagar, as a secondary and inferior wife, and that any child 
which this bond-woman might have, should be counted as 
the child of the mistress. Abraham did not object to this 
course, and it soon became plain that Hagar would give birth to 
a child. This consideration appears to have made her behave 
unbecomingly towards Sarah, who, in return, treated her so 
harshly, that she fled, and wandered into the southern wilder- 
ness. But an angel met her there, and encouraged her to 
return to the tents of Abraham, where, in due season, she 
gave birth to a son, who was called Ishmael, and who became 
the founder of a large portion of the Arabian tribes. 

2. Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, when Sarah 



134 



THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM. 



was ninety years old, and Abraham ninety and nine, the Lord 
again appeared to the patriarch, and solemnly renewed his 
covenant to be, in an especial manner, The God of him and 
of his numerous race. And as a ratification of this covenant 
on their part, the ceremony of circumcision was instituted, 
that every male in that race should bear upon him a token of 
this covenant with God. And further, when Abraham so 
spoke as to shew that his hope of posterity was resting on 
Ishmael, he was assured that the heir of the covenant was 
not yet born, and that Sarah herself was his destined mother. 
Even the name (Isaac) by which he should be called was 
given ; and it was on this occasion that the patriarch himself 
had his name changed from Abram to Abraham, and his 
wife's name was altered from Sarai to Sarah. 

3. It was not long after this that three heavenly beings, 
in the guise of travellers, accepted the hospitality of Abraham. 
When they arose to depart, the patriarch went with them a 
little way. They directed their course towards Sodom ; and 
as they proceeded, the Chief Person, as a mark of his confi- 
dence and favour, opened to Abraham the design of his pre- 
sent appearance in these parts. He declared that the iniquity 
of Sodom and of the other cities of the Plain, was very great ; 
and that such enormous wickedness could be no longer allowed 
to pollute the earth, if their present conduct answered to the 
grievous cry which had come before His throne. The two 
avenging angels then went on, and Abraham, remaining 
alone with the Lord, and, touchingly describing himself as 
" but dust and ashes," deprecated his anger, while he took 
upon him to intercede for the devoted cities. This he did 
with reverential earnestness, until the Lord said, that if but 
ten upright men were found in Sodom, it should be saved for 
their sake. The same evening the two angels came to 
Sodom, and were invited by Lot to spend the night under his 
roof. They yielded to his hospitable importunity ; and before 
the night was over, they had full reason to be satisfied that 
the wickedness of the inhabitants was fully answerable to the 
cry which had ascended unto God. The doom of these cities 
was therefore sealed ; yet that the innocent might not perish 
with the guilty, the angels warned Lot of the impending 
destruction, and urged his immediate departure from the 



BIETH OF ISAAC. 



135 



place. Pressed and led by them, he left the town, with his 
wife and two daughters ; and at his intercession, the small 
city of Bela, thenceforth called Zoar, was spared, that it 
might be a place of refuge to him. As they sped over the 
plain, Sodom and the other cities received their doom — " The 
Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and 
fire," whereby the cities and all their inhabitants were utterly 
consumed, and the waters of the Dead Sea came over the 
ground on which they had stood.* The family of Lot did 
not wholly escape ; for as his wife lingered regretfully behind 
the rest, she was overwhelmed by the destroying shower, 
which encrusting her body, left it standing like " a pillar of 
salt." Lot went to Zoar, but withdrew to a cave in the 
neighbouring mountains, where he became the father of two 
sons, Moab and Amnion. 7 

4. Very soon after the destruction of Sodom, Abraham 
removed his encampment to the south-west, into that part of 
the country where the Philistines had already established 
themselves. Here an adventure happened very similar to 
that which had occurred in Egypt. Uninstructed by expe- 
rience, Abraham pretended that Sarah was his sister. As 
such she was seen and admired by Abimelech, king of Gerar, 
who sent and took her to his own house ; but being warned 
by God in a dream that she was another man's wife, he 
restored her to Abraham with valuable gifts, but not without 
a keen rebuke. 

5. The time at length arrived when Sarah gave to her 
husband the long-promised blessing of a son. On the eighth 
day he was circumcised, and the name of Isaac was given to 
him. About three years the mother nourished him at her 
own breast, and then a great feast marked the day in which 
the child was weaned (b.c. 1893). The birth of Isaac, the 
great attention which was paid to him, and the consciousness 
that by him Ishmael was cut off from the heritage of Abraham, 
were matters very distasteful to Hagar and her son, and at 
this great feast they took no pains to hide their feelings. At 
this Sarah was highly provoked, and insisted with Abraham 
that they should be sent away from the camp. The patriarch 



: " See before, p. 20. 



t See before, p. 5. 



136 



HAGAR AND ISHMAEL RELIEVED. 



was very reluctant to take so harsh a course ; but on receiv- 
ing an intimation from Heaven that this was in accordance 
with the divine intentions, and that the Lord would care for 
the prosperity of Ishmael, he resisted no longer, but sent both 
the mother and son away, with suitable provisions for the 
journey. 

6. They had not, however, travelled farther than the 
wilderness of Beersheba when their supply of water failed, 
and Ishmael, overcome with heat, thirst, and weariness, 
declared himself unable to proceed any further. Hagar 
assisted him to reach some shrubs, under the shade of which 
he lay down ; and his mother, not being able to endure the 
anguish of seeing him die, withdrew to a distance. In her 
grief, an angel of God called to her with words of comfort ; 
he made known to her that there was a well of fresh water 
not far off, and encouraged her by renewed predictions of the 
prosperity of Ishmael. Thus relieved, they remained among 
the tribes of the Desert ; and, in due time, Ishmael was mar- 
ried to a woman of Egypt, became a person of note, and was 
the father of several sons, the founders of families and tribes, 
which formed, and no doubt still form, a large portion of the 
Arabian people. 



137 



CHAPTER III. B.C. 1893 to 1796. 



P ATKIAJ1C H S . 

Isaac offered . . . 
Sarah dies . . . . 
Isaac marries . . . 
Jacob and Esau born 
Abraham dies . . . 
Esau marries . . . 



B.C. 

1871 
1859 
1856 
1836 
1821 
1796 



Myrtseus . 

Thvosimares 

Tliinillus . 

Sempbucrates 

Memnoph . 

The names and eras of 
the kings that follow- 
to Osirtasen I. B.C. 
1740, are uncertain. 



1866 
1848 
1830 



Kingdom of Argos 
founded . . . . 

Deluge of Ogyges, in 
Attica .... 



1. Abraham still remained in the south country, near to 
Gerar, where his power and pastoral wealth had much 
increased ; and, as he seemed to manifest no intention of 
removing, the king Abimelech thought it right to court a 
treaty of alliance with him, being the first which history 
records. To this he was probably the more induced, as some 
anxiety had been experienced on account of the wells which 
Abraham had digged — an act which, as we have already 
explained, gave to the party by whom such wells were made, 
a kind of appropriative right in lands not previously occupied. 
This matter being adjusted, and the rights of the patriarch 
being recognised by the king, the desired covenant was 
formed between them, and confirmed by an oath. It 
amounted to little more than that the contracting parties, 
and their heirs after them, should act with truth towards 
each other. In memory of this transaction, Abraham gave 
the name of Beersheba {well of the oath) to the well in ques- 
tion ; and, the situation being agreeable and convenient, he 
remained there many years, and planted a grove of trees 
around the altar at which he worshipped God. 

2. When Isaac had attained the age of twenty-five years, 
it pleased God to prove Abraham by one great trial of his 
faith and obedience. He was commanded to journey to a 
mountain in Canaan, and there to offer up his son Isaac in 
sacrifice to God. Firmly persuaded that since God had pro- 
mised him a posterity through Isaac, he would even raise 
him again from the dead, rather than allow his promise to 

62 



138 



SACRIFICE OF ISAAC. 



fail (Heb. xi. 17-19), the "father of the faithful" prepared 
to render full, however heart-rending, obedience to this extra- 
ordinary mandate. He travelled to the appointed place ; he 
built an altar, and laid thereon the wood for the tire ; he 
bound his beloved son with cords ; and his hand was uplifted 
to give him the death-wound, when he was arrested by a 
voice from heaven with words of commendation and encou- 
ragement, and by a more than ever solemn confirmation to 
him and to his race of all the blessings that had before been 
promised. A ram, which was found entangled by the horns 
in a thicket, was substituted for Isaac upon the altar, and the 
father returned rejoicing to Beersheba with his son. 

3. Twelve years after this Sarah died, in the 127th year 
of her age. Abraham had, before this, removed his camp 
from Beersheba to his old station at Mamre, near Hebron, or 
to some other spot in that neighbourhood ; and as it had now 
become necessary that he should have a family sepulchre in 
which to lay his dead, he purchased for 400 shekels of silver 
the field and cave of Machpelah, near Hebron. Here Sarah 
was buried ; and thus a sepulchre became to the patriarchs 
the earnest of their reversionary heritage. 

4. Three years after this, when Isaac had reached the 
age of forty years, Abraham bethought himself of seeking a 
wife for his son. The state of religion and morals in Canaan, 
and the special nature of the promises made to his race, con- 
curred with the usual habits and notions of a pastoral chief, 
in leading his attention to his own family, which he had left 
in Mesopotamia, of whose welfare he had, a few years before, 
received intelligence. He therefore gave it in solemn charge 
to his old and confidential servant Eliezer to travel thither, 
and, if possible, to obtain thence a wife for Isaac. Eliezer 
sped well on his journey. On his first arrival at Haran, he 
fell in with Rebekah, the grand- daughter of Abraham's 
brother Nahor, and received kind attentions from her and 
from the family, when he arrived at the house. When he 
made known the object of his journey, the proposed alliance 
was accepted without hesitation. Rebekah herself, on whom 
the choice fell, made no objections ; and she therefore, accom- 
panied by her nurse Deborah, was soon on the road to Canaan 
with Eliezer and his men. They arrived safely there ; all 



DEATH OF ABRAHAM. 



139 



parties were well pleased ; and Rebekah became the wife of 
Isaac. 

5. Not long after, Abraham took to himself a second wife, 
named Keturah, by whom he had six sons, named Zimran, 
Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah, all of whom 
were provided for by their father during his lifetime, and 
sent to settle in Arabia Petrasa, lest at his death they should 
interfere with his heir Isaac. They became the founders of 
Arabian tribes and nations — one of which, Midian, makes 
some figure in the early history of Isaac's descendants. 
Nothing more is recorded of Abraham until his death, which 
occurred at what was even then considered the advanced age 
of 175 years — just 100 years after his arrival in Canaan. 
His body was laid beside that of Sarah, in the sepulchral 
cave of Machpelah. 

6. Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, presented her husband 
with two sons, twins, of whom the first-born was named 
Esau, and the other Jacob (b.c. 1836). They were fifteen 
years of age when their grandfather Abraham died. As they 
grew up, the brothers manifested very different dispositions ; 
Esau was a rude and boisterous man, devoted to the sports 
of the field, while Jacob was of a sedate and quiet disposition, 
much employed in the cares and duties of pastoral life. 
Before their birth, it had been intimated to the mother, that 
the younger of the two was the destined heir of the promises ; 
and this, together with his gentle disposition, rendered Jacob 
very dear to Rebekah ; but the love of Isaac, although him- 
self a quiet man, was more engaged by the first-born, Esau. 
Not knowing, or not rightly understanding, or not having 
much confidence in the intimation which had been given to 
his wife, Isaac was still disposed to consider Esau as the heir 
of the promises ; and being aware of this, Rebekah was always 
contriving to bring about, by craft and management, the 
designs which the Lord would have accomplished without 
her aid. Jacob, in his early life, much resembled his mother- 
in these respects ; but time, trouble, and experience, made 
him a much better man in his later years. 

7. The first object was to get from Esau a formal renun- 
ciation of his birthright, on which, in truth, Esau himself set 
so very little value, that he readily agreed to barter it for a 



140 FAMINE IN THE LAND OF CANAAN. 

mess of savoury pottage which, one clay, when he came home 
faint and hungry form hard hunting, he found Jacob prepar- 
ing. It does not appear to us that he renounced, or that 
Jacob sought, the ordinary secular right of the first-born to a 
double portion of the father's goods, but rather the peculiar 
blessings and promises of the Abrahamic covenant, which all 
parties supposed must henceforth descend in the line of pri- 
mogeniture, unless God otherwise specially determined, or 
unless the person most nearly interested abandoned his claim. 
All the parties appear to have laboured under some mistake 
in this matter ; and Esau's light estimation of his supposed 
privilege was no less reprehensible than Jacob's over-anxiety 
to secure what he believed to be intended for him. 

8. After this there was a famine in the land of Canaan, 
and Isaac would probably have withdrawn into Egypt, had 
he not been commanded by the Lord to remain in the land 
which was the destined inheritance of his race. On this 
occasion, the promise of that heritage, and of all the other 
blessings of the covenant with Abraham, was repeated to 
Isaac, who then removed into the territories of the Philistines, 
where another Abimelech than he who had entered into cove- 
nant with Abraham, reigned. During his residence in Grerar, 
Isaac denied his wife, as his father Abraham had done in the 
same country, and for the same reason, for which he also 
incurred the just rebuke of the reigning king. While in this 
quarter, Isaac paid some attention to the culture of the 
ground, which repaid him a hundred-fold ; and in this and 
other ways, his wealth and power so rapidly increased, as to 
excite the alarm and jealousy of the Philistines, who filled 
up the wells which gave him a right to the soil, and whose 
king at length desired him to withdraw to a greater distance. 
The patriarch accordingly proceeded to the more open pas- 
tures which his father had occupied, and there digged again, 
without opposition, the wells of Abraham. But his attempts 
to dig new wells were vehemently resisted by the Philistine 
shepherds, until he did so at such a distance, that they no 
longer interfered. In this situation, his still growing pros- 
perity suggested to Abimelech the propriety of renewing with 
the powerful nomad chief the convention which his own pre- 
decessor made with Abraham. The king, therefore, went 



ESAU MARRIES. 



141 



from Gerar to the camp of Isaac, whom he treated in all 
respects as an equal. He and his attendants were properly 
feasted by the patriarch, who, after a becoming remonstrance 
as to the treatment he had received, consented to renew the 
covenant of peace. At the age of forty, Esau married two 
women of Canaan, and thereby gave much pain to his parents, 
whose views in such matters were the same as those which 
Abraham had entertained. 



142 



CHAPTER IV. 



B.C. 1796 to 1739. 



PATEIAECHS. 



EGYPT. 



B.C. 



B.C. 



Ishmael dies . . 
Jacob leaves Palestine 



1773 
1759 
1758 



Uncertain till Osirtasen E 



Reuben born 
Simeon born 
Levi born . 



17o6 
1755 
1745 
1739 



Judah born 
J oseph born 
J acob returns 



1. When Jacob was 77 years old, and Isaac 137, we find 
the patriarchal family again at Beersheba. By that time 
Isaac's sight had failed him, and he concluded that he had not 
long to live. He therefore determined to bestow that bless- 
ing which the patriarchal fathers were wont to give to their 
sons in their last days, and to which much importance was 
attached, because on such occasions an influence from above 
enabled them to interpret the designs of the Almighty towards 
those whom they addressed. The blessings of the Abrahamic 
covenant, which God intended for Jacob, the fond Isaac now 
purposed to bestow on Esau. This he made known to him ; 
but first sent him out into the fields to hunt, that, with the 
game, he might prepare one of those savoury messes with 
which he had been in the habit of gratifying the appetite of 
his aged father. All this was overheard by Rebekah, who 
instantly determined to frustrate the design by artifice. She 
dressed Jacob in his brother's clothes, and persuaded him to 
personate Esau : and he thus obtained from his blind father 
the important blessing — " Let people serve thee, and nations 
bow down to thee : be lord over thy brethren, and let thy 
mother's sons bow down to thee : cursed be every one that 
curseth thee, and blessed be every one that blesseth thee!" 
Jacob had scarcely withdrawn, when the entrance of Esau 
revealed the deception which had been practised. Isaac was 
seized with consternation when he discovered that his inten- 
tion had been counteracted. But convinced that he had been 
rashly attempting to act in opposition to the divine will, and 



JACOB LEAVES PALESTINE. 



143 



that the whole matter had been overruled by a higher power, 
he made no attempt to recal the blessing he had bestowed on 
Jacob, but rather confirmed it by the emphatic declaration, 
" Yea, and he shall be blessed ! " 

2. The grief and rage of Esau at being thus circumvented 
by his brother were very great. He earnestly begged another 
blessing for himself, and obtained one which involved the 
promise, that although his posterity should for a while be 
subject to that of Jacob, yet in the end they should throw off 
the yoke, and establish their independence. All the parties 
in this transaction were much to blame ; Eebekah and Jacob 
especially, were guilty of the sins of doing evil that good 
might come, and of promoting, by fraudulent means, the 
intentions of God, in effecting which then- aid was not needful. 

3. Esau cherished the most inexorable resentment against 
Jacob for what he had done. He vowed to be revenged by 
the death of his brother ; but, out of regard for his father, 
purposed to wait till after his death. This came to the ears 
of Eebekah, who thereupon persuaded Jacob to withdraw for 
a time to her brother Laban in Mesopotamia. Not to trouble 
the mind of the aged Isaac, she forbore to tell him the prin- 
cipal reason for this course, but assigned another, which was 
also true, being her fear lest Jacob should follow the example 
of his brother, in marrying one of the women of the country 
in which they lived. Isaac therefore called Jacob, and 
charged him not to do this, but to go and obtain for a wife 
one of the daughters of Laban, his mother's brother. 

4. Dismissed with his father's blessing, the heir of the 
promises set forth upon his journey. On his way, he was 
encouraged by an important vision at Bethel, and in due time 
arrived at Haran ; and when he came to the well outside that 
city, he found a great number of persons of both sexes 
assembled there to water their flocks. Among them he dis- 
covered Eachel, the daughter of Laban, who had charge of 
the home flock. Having watered the flock for her, he told 
her who he was, and went with her to her father's house. 
He was well received by Laban, to whom he made his cir- 
cumstances known. In a short time that person discovered 
that Jacob had a very superior knowledge of pastoral affairs, 
and became anxious to retain his services in the management 



144 



JACOB S MARRIAGES. 



of his flocks. He offered him wages ; but Jacob, who had 
much love for his cousin whom he had met at the well — but 
had no means of paying the price which custom required a 
man to give to the father of the woman he married — offered 
Laban seven years of his services for Eachel. Laban con- 
sented; and when the time came, made a great feast to 
celebrate his daughter's marriage ; but instead of giving 
Jacob the youngest daughter, according to agreement, he 
managed, by some deception, to substitute Leah, the eldest, 
for whom Jacob had no regard. 

5. Next day, when the fraud was discovered, Laban 
excused himself by saying, that the custom of the country 
would not permit the younger daughter to be given in mar- 
riage before the elder ; and coolly added, that now the elder 
was married, he might have the other also, if he chose to 
serve other seven years for her. Jacob, who saw no remedy, 
and who greatly loved Kachel, agreed to this proposal, and, 
after a proper interval, she was given to him. He had now 
two wives, as the custom of the time and country allowed. 
As might be expected, Eachel was much dearer to him than 
Leah, whom he treated with comparative neglect ; but the 
Lord, who hates injustice, restored the balance in this matter, 
by giving Leah children, which were withheld from Eachel. 
Leah bore successively four sons, whom she named Eeuben, 
Simeon, Levi, and Judah. As children are greatly desired 
by the Orientals, and were more especially desirable to him 
whose posterity was to become a great nation, this gave to 
Leah an advantage over her sister, which vexed Eachel. 
She therefore gave her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob, in the 
same way, and with the same intention, as that with which 
Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham, Eachel intending, that if 
there were children, they should be considered her own. 
Bilhah had two sons, whom Eachel named Dan and Naphtali. 
On this, Leah would not be denied the right of giving also 
her handmaid Zilpah to J acob. She bore two sons, Gad and 
Asher, in addition to whom Leah herself had two more sons, 
Issachar and Zebulun, and one daughter named Dinah. At 
last, after many years of repining, Eachel herself had a son, 
who received the name of Joseph. 

6. The fourteen years during which Jacob had agreed to 



JACOB S RETURN TO CANAAN. 



145 



serve Laban for his two daughters were expired, and he now 
expressed an intention of returning to the land of Canaan. 
But Laban, convinced that the Lord had blessed him greatly 
for Jacob's sake, and that all his affairs had prospered in his 
hands, earnestly entreated him to remain, offering whatever 
recompense for his further services he might demand. As he 
was still poor, and felt it a duty to provide for his own house, 
Jacob found it prudent to accept this offer, and named the 
party-coloured sheep and goats which might henceforth be 
born in the flock as the reward of his cares. As pied ani- 
mals are very rare in Syrian flocks, Laban eagerly agreed to 
this proposal. By forming into a separate flock, and remov- 
ing to a distance all the animals which were already party- 
coloured, leaving all the rest under the care of Jacob, he 
took means to prevent the inordinate increase of such as were 
to become his nephew's share; but, on the other hand, Jacob, 
by an ingenious contrivance, endeavoured to promote their 
increase, and with such success, that a very few years sufficed 
to render his portion of the flocks greater than Laban's. 

7. Annoyed at the discontent and envy, which Laban 
and his sons took no pains to conceal, longing to be at home, 
and deeming his present wealth sufficient, Jacob, after six 
years more of servitude, making twenty years in all, deter- 
mined to return to Canaan. But fearing that Laban might 
oppose his departure, he took an occasion of removing clan- 
destinely, with his wives and children, his flocks and herds. 
Three days passed before Laban heard of his departure, and 
with his relations and retainers he immediately set off in 
pursuit. In seven days he traversed the distance for which 
Jacob, encumbered with flocks and herds, had required ten 
days, and overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. It had, 
doubtless, been the intention of Laban either to compel J acob 
to return, or to despoil him of his wealth ; but the night 
before they met, he had been warned in a dream against 
committing any injurious or hostile act. Therefore, when 
they met the next day, he confined himself to reproofs, which 
Jacob retorted with great spirit, and much truth ; and in the 
end they came to a good understanding, and entered into a 
covenant of peace ; after which they parted, Laban returning 
home, and Jacob pursuing his journey. 



146 Jacob's encounter with an angel. 

8. Jacob's next anxiety was to ascertain the disposition 
towards him of his brother Esau, to evade whose wrath he 
had quitted the land of Canaan twenty years before. Mean- 
while, Esau himself had become a person of consequence, and 
had established himself in great power as a military chief in 
the mountains of Seir. Thither Jacob sent messengers to 
announce his return, which they were instructed to do in 
terms of the utmost deference and respect. In due time the 
messengers returned with the alarming intelligence that Esau 
himself was advancing at the head of 400 men. Jacob much 
feared that the intentions of his brother were unfriendly ; and 
he recommended himself, in an earnest prayer, to the protec- 
tion of God. It was night : his caravan had already passed 
the river Jabbok, and he remained behind to renew his sup- 
plications in the solitude. While he was thus engaged, an 
angel of God appeared and struggled with him, in wrestling, 
for a long while, and refrained from overcoming the mortal 
man with whom he conflicted, until the morning broke ; and 
then, to evince his power, he laid his hand upon the hollow 
of Jacob's thigh, when instantly the sinew shrank, and he 
halted with lameness. Yet Jacob left not his hold of the 
an^-el, but cried, " I will not let thee go except thou bless 
me!" The angel asked him, "What is thy name?" He 
answered, "Jacob." Then said the angel, "thy name shall 
be called no more Jacob, but Israel (prince of God) ; for as 
a prince has thou power with God, and with men, and hast 
prevailed." He then received the blessing for which he 
strove, and derived all the intended encouragement from this 
mysterious interview. Israel then joined his family on the 
other side the Jabbok. The intentions of Esau may have 
been hostile ; but his heart was so wrought upon by the sight 
of his long absent brother and his peaceful troop, that he ran 
to meet him, and fell upon his neck and kissed him, and they 
wept, together. 



147 



CHAPTEE V. B.C. 1739 to 1708. 



B.C. 



B.C. 



Benjamin born . 
Joseph sold . . 
Joseph imprisoned 



1734 
1728 
1718 



Isaac dies 

Joseph Governor of Egypt 
Famine begins .... 



1716 
1715 
1708 



1. Israel made some stay at Succoth, after which he pro- 
ceeded to the valley between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, where 
Abraham first encamped on entering the Land of Promise. 
A city had since been built there, and the land appropriated, 
so that Jacob was obliged to purchase the ground on which 
he pitched his tents. Here a friendly understanding, and a 
mutually advantageous traffic, soon arose between this family 
of shepherds and the townspeople. The former could supply 
milk, and wool, and skins, and animals for use and slaughter, 
for which the latter could give the products of their fields and 
gardens, and the utensils, cloths, arms, and ornaments which 
towns usually produce. But it unfortunately happened that 
Shechem, the son of Hamor, the prince of the country, saw 
Dinah, Jacob's daughter, at a public festival in the town, 
and, becoming enamoured of her, allured her from her father's 
protection to his own house, where he detained her with the 
promise and intention of marriage. The young man opened 
the matter to his father, and persuaded him to go out to 
Jacob's camp, and make proposals of marriage to him. 

2. Jacob was much grieved, and his sons were fired with 
indignation at the dishonour which the family had received, 
and at first refused to listen to the liberal offers which Hamor 
made. At last, however, they acceded to the proposed mar- 
riage, on condition that all the Shechemites should receive 
the rite of circumcision. To this the townspeople were 
induced by Hamor to consent ; and on the third day, when 
they were least able to defend themselves, Simeon and Levi, 
full brothers of Dinah, entered the town, with some of their 
father's men, and slew all the male inhabitants, to avenge 
the indignity offered to their sister, whom they took away to 
the camp. After this the other sons of Jacob came and plun- 



148 



BIETH OF BENJAMIN. 



derecl the place, bringing the women and children away as 
captives. Jacob was greatly distressed and alarmed at this 
atrocious action of his sons, and was glad to withdraw — in 
accordance with a divine intimation — from a neighbourhood 
stained by so great a crime, to Bethel. 

3. From Bethel Jacob proceeded southward, probably 
with the intention of rejoining his aged father, who was still 
alive, and who abode in the plain of Mamre, near Hebron. 
When they were near Ephrath (afterwards Bethlehem), Eachel 
was delivered of a second son, named Benjamin ; and she 
died in giving him birth. The bereaved husband honoured 



Flock, and, after some stay there, at length joined his old 
father in Mamre, and remained with him till his death. This 
did not occur till sixteen years after, when Isaac had reached 
the advanced age of 180 years. Esau was also present, and 
joined with Jacob in rendering the last offices of filial duty 
to their father, whose remains were deposited in the cave of 
Machpelah, with those of Sarah and Abraham. After this 
Esau withdrew, with the portion of the property which fell 
to him, to his former residence in the mountains of Seir, where 
his posterity became a considerable nation. At the time of 
Isaac's death, Jacob was 120 years old. He continued still at 
Mamre, engaged with his sons in the usual pastoral employ- 
ments. 

4. The history now conducts us to Joseph, the eldest of 
Eachel' s two sons. His beauty, his engaging qualities, his 
early wisdom, and, more than all, his having been for many 




the grave of his be- 
loved wife with a se- 
pulchral pillar, which 
long after stood 
there, but which is 
now replaced by a 
Mohammedan monu- 
mental tomb. Israel 
removed from Eph- 
rath to a pasture - 
ground in which 
stood a tower, called 
the Tower of the 



JOSEPH SOLD TO THE ISHMAELITES. 



149 



years (before Benjamin was born) the only son of Rachel, 
had given him the first place in his father's love. This par- 
tiality may have: been natural ; but Jacob most unwisely 
displayed it before the eyes of his other sons, by clothing his 
favourite in a gaudy " coat of many colours." This and 
other things so moved the envy and jealousy of the brothers, 
.that " they could not speak peaceably to him ;" and he espe- 
cially offended the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, by reporting to 
Jacob then misbehaviour when out with the flocks. The 
general ill-feeling of his brothers towards him was not a little 
strengthened by his account of certain dreams with which he 
was favoured, and which could only be interpreted to pre- 
figure his own future greatness and their humiliation before 
him. At length their hatred rose to such a height, that they 
resolved to get rid of him by death as soon as a favourable 
opportunity should occur. 

5. They had for some time been out with the flocks in 
distant pastures, when Israel sent Joseph from Mamre to 
enquire after their welfare. As soon as he came in sight 
they resolved to kill him; but were prevented by Reuben, 
who wished to deliver him out of their hands, and persuaded 
them to cast him into an empty pit. Afterwards, by the 
advice of Judah, they drew him out, and sold him for a slave 
to a caravan of Ishmaelitish and Midianitish merchants, who 
were going with costly drugs to Egypt. The brothers then 
took Joseph's coat — the coat of many colours — and dipped it 
in the blood of a kid, to induce the belief that he had been 
killed by a wild beast. They then sent it home to their 
father, who, receiving the impression they intended to convey, 
was overwhelmed with anguish. He rent his clothes, put on 
sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. This was 
about three years after Jacob had joined his father Isaac at 
Mamre. 

6. Meanwhile Joseph was taken to Egypt, and sold to 
Potiphar, captain of the guard to Pharaoh,* king of Egypt. 
By his abilities and excellent conduct he won the entire con- 
fidence of his master, who in the end left all his affairs in his 

* Pharaoh, or Phrah, is not a name, but a title, meaning " king," which accounts for 
its being given in Scripture to nearly all the sovereigns of that country of whom it takes 
notice. 



150 



JOSEPH GOVERNOR OF EGYPT. 



hands. But after serving Potiphar with great integrity and 
success for ten years, he "was then thrown into prison, on 
account of a false accusation by his mistress, whose guilty 
enticements he had repelled. In the prison, his character 
and talents were soon appreciated by the governor, who com- 
mitted all the other prisoners to his charge. Among these 
were the king's chief butler and chief baker — officers of some 
consequence in Eastern courts. These were both, in one 
night, troubled with remarkable dreams, which Joseph 
modestly undertook to interpret ; and the event corresponded 
to his interpretations — the butler was restored to favour, and 
the baker was hanged. 

7. Two years after this the king of Egypt himself had 
two very singular dreams in one night, which troubled him 
greatly, especially when he found that none of his diviners 
were able to discover then* meaning. On this, the chief butler 
called to mind Joseph's most true interpretation of his own 
and his companion's dreams in prison, and spoke of this to the 
king. Pharaoh immediately sent to the prison for him, and 
related to him his dreams. Modestly disclaiming the wisdom 
which the king supposed him to possess, and ascribing all the 
honour to the God whom he served, Joseph told the king 
that the two dreams were to be received as a warning from 
God, that seven years of extreme plenty in Egypt would be 
succeeded by seven years of unexampled scarcity. He then 
proceeded to give such sound advice as to the mode in which 
the over-produce of the seven years of plenty might be hus- 
banded for use during the seven years of famine, that Pha- 
raoh at once determined to invest him with the power and 
station necessary for giving effect to the measures he had 
advised. By taking off his signet-ring, and placing it on 
Joseph's ringer, he conveyed to him such high powers as made 
him next in authority to the king. He was then arrayed 
in the vestures of fine muslin and the chain of gold which 
belonged to his high place, and, standing in the royal chariot, 
he was conducted in grand procession through the metropolis, 
and proclaimed chief minister and governor of Egypt. Joseph 
was thirty years old when he attained this high advancement. 
Soon after Pharaoh — in order to strengthen Joseph's position, 
by connecting him with distinguished families — gave him in 



JOSEPH S MARRIAGE. 



151 



marriage a lady of high rank, Asenath, daughter of Potipherah, 
high-priest of On, by whom in due time he had two sons, 
Manasseh and Ephraim. 

8. During the seven years of plenty Joseph travelled 
through all the provinces, making surveys, building granaries, 
and filling them with corn. The effects of the years of scar- 
city which followed were felt not only in Egypt, but in all 
the adjacent countries, the inhabitants of which soon flocked 
to Egypt to purchase corn from the well-filled granaries of 
Joseph. The private stores of the Egyptians themselves were 
soon spent, and they became dependent upon the public stock, 
out of which they bought corn until they had nothing but 
their persons and their lands left to them. Then, at their 
own desire, Joseph bought their lands for the Crown, at the 
cost of supplying them with food during the scarcity ; and 
for the convenience of distribution, he assembled the people 
of every district into the towns in which the corn was stored, 
and, w r hen the famine was nearly ended, he gave them seed, 
and restored them their lands to farm, at the fixed Crown- 
rent of one-fifth of the produce. We have explained this 
procedure, because it appears to have been of late much 
misunderstood. 



152 



CHAPTER VI. 



B.C. 1708 to 1635. 



PATEIABCHS. 

B.C. 



EGYPT. 



B.C. 



Jacob sends Ms sons to Egypt for corn 1707 
Jacob and bis family go to Egypt . 1706 

End of the Famine * 1702 

Jacob dies 1689 

Joseph dies 1635 



Amun-m-gori I. 
Amun-m-gori IT. 
Osirtasen II. . 



1696 
1686 
1651 



1. Among the foreigners who repaired to Egypt to buy- 
corn in the first year of the famine, were the brethren of 
Joseph. As they stood " and bowed themselves before him, 
with their faces to the earth," and thus accomplished what 
was predicted by the dreams which they had so criminally 
endeavoured to frustrate, they little thought of their brother, 
but he knew them well. To try their present dispositions, 
he spoke roughly to them, and accused them of being spies, 
" come to spy the nakedness of the land." This was a most 
grave and dangerous charge, coming from such a quarter. 
This they felt ; and, in their anxiety to repel it, gave a par- 
ticular account of their real condition, from which Joseph 
learned that his father still lived, and that his favourite son, 
their youngest brother, had remained at home with him. 
Joseph seized hold of this, and made the appearance of that 
younger brother before him the test of their sincerity, and de- 
cided that one of them should go for him, and the rest remain 
in custody till that one returned with Benjamin. Meanwhile 
they were cast into prison ; but on the third day he spoke 
more gently to them, and directed that they might all go 
home, except Simeon, who was to be detained as a hostage 
for their return. Their troubled consciences interpreted the 
difficulties into which they had fallen as a divine judgment 
upon them for the treatment of their brother ; and as they 
freely expressed this to one another — not supposing " the 
governor of the country" could understand them — Joseph was 
much moved, and turned from them and wept. He gave 
them provisions for the journey, and caused the money they 
had paid for corn to be privily restored in their sacks. 



JACOB SENDS HIS SONS TO EGYPT FOE CORN. 153 

2. When they reached home they gave their father a full 
account of the strange behaviour of " the man, the governor 
of the land." He was much disconcerted at the demand for 
Benjamin, and refused to let him go. But, when the corn 
was all consumed, and Jacob desired his sons to go to Egypt 
for more, they absolutely refused again to appear before " the 
governor" without Benjamin. At length, with extreme diffi- 
culty, they extorted his consent — Judah making himself indi- 
vidually responsible for Benjamin's safe return. Anxious to 
make a favourable impression upon the much-dreaded " man" 
in Egypt, Jacob sent him a present of the choice products of 
the land of Canaan — balm and honey, spices and myrrh, nuts 
and almonds. 

3. They arrived in Egypt, and again stood before Joseph, 
who no sooner saw Benjamin than he expressed his satisfac- 
tion, and set Simeon free. He asked them concerning that 
old man of whom they had spoken — their father — and was 
obliged to withdraw to indulge that burst of emotion which 
the sight of his brother inspired. He feasted them sump- 
tuously that day, and the next morning allowed them to 
depart with the corn they required. But, to try their feeling 
towards Benjamin, he caused his own silver cup to be secretly 
introduced into the mouth of his corn-sack, that he might see 
whether, when Benjamin should be charged with the theft, 
they would leave him to his fate, and go home without him. 
Accordingly, after they had left the town, they were over- 
taken by a party of Joseph's servants, who ordered them to 
stop, and charged them with having stolen their master's 
silver cup. Alarmed at this accusation, but conscious of their 
innocence, they expressed their readiness to be searched, and 
declared that any one with whom the cup might be found 
deserved to die. When the cup was found in Benjamin's 
sack, they returned with the supposed culprit to the city, and 
once more stood before the governor of the land. They fell 
on their faces before him, and, in answer to his reproaches, 
declared themselves his bondsmen, without attempting to 
deny or vindicate the apparent guilt of their brother. But 
Joseph told them it was right that only the guilty should 
suffer. Benjamin, therefore, he would detain in bondage, 
but they might go home. Judah then interceded, and, in a 



154 



JACOB AND HIS FAMILY GO TO EGYPT. 



most eloquent and touching address, evinced the most tender 
affection towards his brother and his aged father ; and, 
declaring the special trust he had incurred, entreated to 
be taken as a bondsman in the stead of Benjamin. The 
governor could contain himself no longer ; he made himself 
known to them — " I am Joseph ! — doth my father yet live?" 
Perceiving them overwhelmed with apprehension and remorse, 
he endeavoured to comfort and reassure them, by directing 
their attention to the designs of Providence — " Be not grieved 
or angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither, for God did 
send me before you to preserve life." He then embraced 
them all, and opened to them his desire that they should 
return and bring their father and their families down to 
Egypt, where they would enjoy plenty during the remaining 
years of famine ; and he would procure them a grant of the 
pastoral district of Goshen for their residence. 

4. Joyful was their return, and rapturous their announce- 
ment to their father — " Joseph is yet alive, and is governor 
over all the land of Egypt !" Jacob's heart fainted, and he 
believed them not. Twenty years he had mourned his 
beloved Joseph as dead, and it was not easy at once to receive 
so great a joy. When at length their solemn assurance cre- 
ated belief, he said, " It is enough ; Joseph my son is yet 
alive — I will go down and see him before I die !" So Jacob 
left Canaan with all his family and possessions. On the way 
he paused to worship at the old family altar in Beersheba, 
and was there favoured with the intimation from Gocl, that 
the purpose of His providence was, that his race should 
tarry in Egypt, to grow into a great nation there ; and that, 
as such, they should then march forth to take possession of 
the land of Canaan, their promised inheritance. Jacob's 
family — consisting of his sons, with their wives and children — 
at the time it entered Egypt, consisted of seventy-five* per- 
sons (Acts vii. 14). On entering Egypt, Jacob sent Juclah 
to give notice of his arrival to Joseph, who immediately rode 

* In Gen. xlvi. 27, we read " seventy." The reason of the difference is this— Jacob's 
eleven sons and a daughter, and their children and grandchildren, made sixty-six per- 
sons, to whom the account in Acts adds the nine wives of Jacob's eleven sons. The 
account in Genesis omits these wives, but makes the number seventy, by adding to the 
sixty-six Jacob himself, and Joseph, with his two sons, already in Egypt. 



JACOB S DEATH. 



155 



forth in his chariot to meet his father, who, when he saw him, 
" fell upon his neck, and wept on his neck a good while ;" and, 
as soon as he could speak, he said, ' b Xow, let me die since 
I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive." Joseph 
conducted them into the land of G-oshen, which they were 
to occupy. Having left their flocks and herds there, they 
proceeded to the metropolis, and were introduced by Joseph 
to the king, the father separately, and the sons together. 
Pharaoh was much struck by the venerable aspect of the 
patriarch, and asked him how old he was ? He answered — 
" The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and 
thirty years : few and evil have the days of the years of my 
life been, and have not attained unto the clays of the years of 
the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage.'' ' 

5. Jacob and his family having taken possession of the 
district of Goshen, remained there, undisturbed, in their usual 
pastoral employments for seventeen years, at the end of which 
Jacob — being then 147 years old — felt that his last hour 
drew nigh. He therefore called his sons together, to tell 
them, in the spirit of prophecy, what should befall them and 
their tribes in the coming times. As they all stood around 
him, he gave utterance in the most beautiful language, replete 
with poetical images, to a wonderful series of predictions 
respecting the future character, circumstances, and situation 
of the tribes which were to spring from his several sons. To 
Judah was allotted the pre-eminence, and a more especial 
interest in the promises of the covenant ; nor was it obscurely 
intimated that in his tribe was to arise the promised Deli- 
verer, whose coming was the main object of the Hebrew 
covenant, and of the Jewish polity, as established in after 
years. Joseph was eminently favoured with a double portion ; 
for Jacob adopted his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as 
his own children, thereby making them heads of tribes, and 
entitling them, as such, to be counted as two tribes in the 
commonwealth of Israel ; but, at the same time, Jacob inti- 
mated that the tribe of the younger son Ephraim would take 
a leading part in the nation, and be greater and more 
renowned than the tribe of the elder Manasseh. 

6. When he had finished blessing his sons, Israel 
gathered up his feet into the bed, and died. Joseph fell 



156 



JOSEPH S DEATH. 



upon the face of his dead father, kissed him, and closed his 
eyes. Egypt held a solemn mourning for him. His body was 
embalmed after the manner of the Egyptians, and carried 
with great state to the land of Canaan, to be laid in the 
family sepulchre. Such had been his own desire, in the 
unshaken conviction that the Lord would restore his race to 
the land which contained that sepulchre, and give it to them 
for a possession. In the same conviction Joseph himself, 
fifty-four years after, and just before his death — being then 
110 years old — sent for his brethren, and required them, on 
behalf of the family, to swear to cany up his bones from 
Egypt, and bury them in the Land of Promise — thus, at 
once, evincing his faith, and taking his last place with the 
Israelites rather than with the Egyptians. He then died ; 
and, as he had only charged them to remove his bones with 
them when the time of their final departure should arrive, 
his body was carefully preserved in a coffin against that time. 



BOOK II. 



CHAPTER I. B.C. 1571 to 1491. 



PATRIARCHS. 

B. C. 

Levi dies .... 1619 
The 11 ew king (dynasty) 

in Egypt .... 1575 
Aaron born .... 1574 
Moses born .... 1571 
Moses quits Egypt . 1531 
Moses returns to Egypt, 
and brings forth "the 
Israelites .... 1491 



EG1PT. 



B. C. 

Osirtasenm. . . 1636 

Amun-m-gori III. . 1621 

Name unknown . . 1580 

Amosis 1575 

Amunoph I. . . . 1550 

Thothmesl. . . . 1532 

Thothmes II. . . . 1505 

Thothmesin. . . 1495 



EVENTS AND PERSONS. 

B.C. 

Scamander leads a co- 
' lony from Crete, and 
founds Troy . . . 1546 
Cecrops leads a colony 
j from Sals in Egypt, 

and founds Athens 1556 
l Cadmus carries letters 
into Greece, and 
founds Thebes . . 1493 



1. The posterity of Jacob's sons remained in the land of 
Goshen, increasing with prodigious rapidity, through the 
special blessing of Providence, who designed to multiply them 
soon into a nation. For many years we know little more of 
them ; but it may be observed that Ephraim and Manasseh, 
the two sons of Joseph, instructed by their father to prefer 
the lot of God's chosen people, very early joined the Israelites 
in Goshen, and followed the same mode of life. All went on 
very well until the accession of a new dynasty to the throne 
of Lower Egypt — probably a foreign dynasty from Upper 
Egypt, which knew little and cared less for the memory and 
services of Joseph. The new government contemplated with 
alarm the position occupied by an active, closely united, and 
rapidly increasing body of foreigners in the land of Goshen. 
It was considered that, unless means were taken to reduce 
and keep down their numbers, their power would soon be too 
great for the Egyptians to control. While the troops were 
elsewhere employed they might get possession of the country, 
or might at any time ruin Egypt, by going over to its ene- 
mies in time of war. 

2. Much of this alarm obviously arose from the fact of 
their living apart by themselves, in Goshen, so that their 
aggregate mass was so apparent as to inspire the Egyptians 



158 



MOSES BORN- 



with apprehension, and the Israelites with confidence. Had 
they been dispersed over Egypt, and intermixed with the 
native population, nothing of this conld have been felt. 
Knowing how, under ordinary circumstances, a population 
may be kept in check by oppression and labour, the Egyp- 
tian government determined to reduce the free-born Israelites 
to the condition of serfs, requiring them to " serve with 
rigour " in the public works — to dig canals, to cultivate the 
ground, to build towns and granaries, and to make the sun- 
dried bricks, compacted with straw, of which they were con- 
structed. Task-masters were set over them to exact the 
full amount of labour ; and those who failed were subjected 
to severe punishments. But although the yoke upon Israel 
was made very heavy, the population was not checked. The 
more they were oppressed, the more their numbers increased. 
Perceiving this, the king determined to resort to more decisive 
measures, and enjoined the Hebrew midwives to destroy every 
male infant in the birth. Fearing God more than they feared 
the king, the midwives disregarded this barbarous order. 
But, determined not to be balked in his politic design, 
Pharaoh no longer stooped to indirect and secret measures, 
but openly commanded that every male child thenceforth 
born should be thrown into the river Nile. 

3. In those days, Jochebed, the wife of Am ram, of the 
tribe of Levi, gave birth to a son. She had already two 
children, a son named Aaron, and a daughter called Miriam. 
For three months the mother managed to save her infant 
from its doom ; and then, finding that she could hide him no 
longer, she placed him among the flags beside the river, in a 
basket which had been daubed with slime to keep the water 
out. In the good providence of God, who intended this 
infant for great deeds, it happened that he had not lain there 
long before the king's daughter came to the spot, attended 
by her maidens, to bathe. Perceiving the basket she sent 
for it, and was much struck by the extreme beauty of the 
child, and moved by its infant wail. She knew that it must 
be a Hebrew child, but resolved to save it; and sent Miriam — 
who had been watching the result — to find a nurse for him. 
She brought the mother, who joyfully received the charge of 
nursing her own infant for the king's daughter. 



MOSES QUITS EGYPT. 



159 



4. In due time the boy was taken home to the princess, 
who became attached to him, regarded him as her son, and 
gave him the name of Moses (from the water), because she 
had saved him from the water. He was duly instructed in 
the learning and science of the Egyptians — who were then, 
perhaps, the most cultivated people in the world ; and it is 
said that in due time he rose to high employments, and 
rendered important services to the state.* At length, it 
seems to have been considered necessaiy that he should, by 
some legal form or ceremony, be recognised as "the son of 
Pharaoh's daughter," to qualify him for higher distinctions 
than he had yet attained. But when it came to this point, 
he refused the proposed adoption, and chose rather to take 
his part with the oppressed people to whom he by birth 
belonged. He repaired to the land of Goshen, and became 
an eye-witness of the misery which they still suffered. One 
day, seeing an Egyptian task-master beating an Israelite, he 
fell upon him, slew him, and hid his body in the sand. The 
next day, in endeavouring to pacify two quarrelling Israelites, 
he was treated with insult, and jeeringly reminded of what 
he had done the day before. Alarmed at finding that the 
deed was known, and fearing the vengeance of the Egyptians, 
Moses fled from the country without delay ; being then forty 
years of age. 

5. Moses travelled eastward, and came to a territory on 
the eastern arm of the Eed Sea, occupied by a branch of the 
family descended from Midian, one of Abraham's sons by 
Keturah. Here, while resting beside a well, he interfered to 
protect seven young women of the country from some shep- 
herds, and drew for them the water their flocks required. 
This led to his introduction to the father of these damsels, 
Jethro, the prince and priest of Midian, who persuaded the 
stranger from Egypt to take the charge of his flocks, and gave 
him in marriage Zipporah, one of his daughters. By her he 
had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. Forty years Moses fed 
the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law — at proper seasons 
leading them for pasture to the well- watered valleys of the 

* This is not said in the Biblical narrative. But it is probable in itself, is affirmed by 
Josephus (Antiq. ii. 10), and is more than hinted at by St. Stephen, who, alluding to this 
period of Moses' life, says, he was " mighty in word and deed" (Acts vii.) 



160 



MOSES RETURNS TO EGYPT. 



Sinai mountains. At the end of that time, when he was in 
this quarter, hard by the Mount Horeb, he was startled at 
seeing a bush burning, and yet remaining unconsumed. He 
advanced to examine this wonder ; and as he drew near, the 
voice of God called to him by name from out of the bush-, for- 
bidding him to come nearer, and admonishing him to take the 
sandals from his feet in reverence of the Divine presence, 
which rendered holy the ground on which he stood. The 
Voice then proceeded to announce that the cries of the op- 
pressed Hebrews had entered heaven, and that the time was 
now come to bring them forth from Egypt, and give them 
possession of the Promised Land. 

6. Moses himself was then required to become the agent 
for working their deliverance ; but he shrunk from the re- 
sponsibilities and care of this great commission. He excused 
himself by reason of his wanting that persuasive speech which 
had power over men. But, to meet this, his eloquent brother 
Aaron was joined in the commission ; and when Moses per- 
sisted, on the ground that the Israelites were not likely to 
listen to him, or to believe that he had been sent by the God 
of their fathers, he was empowered to work miracles for their 
conviction. No longer able to refuse, Moses took leave of 
Jethro, and returned to Egypt ; and as he approached the 
land of Goshen, was met by Aaron, who had in a dream been 
warned of his coming. The brothers called together the 
elders of Israel, and Moses opened to them his commission, 
and confirmed it by the appointed miracles. Having satisfied 
them, they all repaired to the court of the reigning king, of 
whom Moses demanded, in the name of Jehovah, the God of 
the Hebrews, that the descendants of Israel should be allowed 
to quit his dominions. The Egyptians had, however, by this 
time, found out the value of their forced services, and the 
king flatly refused to listen to so extraordinary a proposal. 
Indeed, affecting to consider such vain notions the effect of 
idleness, he directed their labours to be increased, and their 
bondage to be made more bitter. 

7. Moses was then obliged to resort to "the plagues," 
which he was commissioned to inflict, in order to compel 
Pharaoh to consent to their departure, and at the same time 
to demonstrate the greatness and power of the God whom the 



DEATH OF THE FIRST-BORN OF THE EGYPTIANS. 161 

Hebrews worshipped. The heart of Pharaoh was very hard, 
and it required a succession of the most terrible inflictions to 
extort his consent. The waters were changed into blood ; 
frogs, lice, and gnats, successively inundated the land ; a 
murrain destroyed the cattle ; the people were afflicted with 
painful and noisome ulcers ; a tremendous hail - storm de- 
stroyed the fruits of the ground ; clouds of locusts consumed 
all that the hail had left ; and this was followed by a thick 
darkness which overspread all the land except that part which 
the Israelites occupied. By some cunning sleight, a few of 
these miracles were imitated by the Egyptian magicians, 
which much encouraged Pharaoh in his obstinacy. At times 
he wavered ; but as at the end of all these plagues he still 
remained inexorable, one last and terrible infliction was 
threatened, and Moses was apprised that it would be effectual. 
This was no less than the sudden death of all the first-born 
in Egypt. Accordingly at midnight, the first-born, from the 
highest to the lowest, were smitten, and there was no house 
from which came not the wail for the dead. This calamity, 
like the others, touched not the Israelites, whose door-posts 
were sprinkled with the blood of a lamb offered up in sacrifice 
to God, according to his previous appointment. And that 
the memory of this signal distinction, when the Destroyer 
passed over the blood-sprinkled doors of the Israelites, and 
smote the first-born of the Egyptians only, might be preserved 
to all generations, the Lord instituted the feast of the Pass- 
over ;* and as a further memorial, he directed that the first- 
born should henceforth be set apart for his service. Exod. 
vii. to xiii. 

8. Although the king of Egypt had held out so long, his- 
people had before this been anxious that the Israelites should 
be dismissed ; and now they were no longer to be restrained. 
With their dead around them, and not knowing what might 
befall them next, they insisted on the instant departure of the 
Israelites. The king was not able to resist the popular im- 
pulse, and perhaps was not at the moment willing, for the 
first-born of the throne lay also dead. He gave his permission, 
and the people in every possible way urged and hastened their 
going forth. The Hebrews, however, took this opportunity 

* This feast has been mentioned before, p. 116. 
2 H 



162 



MOSES LEADS FORTH THE ISRAELITES. 



of universal consternation to demand* the wages of then- 
long and laborious services ; and the Egyptians in their 
eagerness to get them out of the country, were in no humour 
to contest the matter, but hastened to load them with "jewels 
of gold and jewels of silver," together with costly raiment. 
This, together with then numerous flocks and herds, caused 
the Israelites to go forth from Egypt a wealthy people. They 
had also become very numerous ; for the men fit to bear arms 
amounted to six hundred thousand, which implies a total 
population of about two and a half millions ;j besides these 
there was a large "mixed multitude," which chose rather to 
take then* part with the Israelites than to remain in Egypt. 
Very probably a large proportion of these were foreigners 
who had, like the Israelites, been held in slavery by the 
Egyptians : the rest may have been Egyptians of the lower 
and more despised orders. At all events, this " mixed" body 
appears from the history to have formed the rabble of the 
immense multitude that quitted Egypt 215 years after Jacob 
and his family entered that country, and 430 years after the 
founder of the family went to the land of Canaan. 

9. The ends for which that family had been sent into 
Egypt were now completely answered. Under the protection 
of the most powerful people in those parts, and in one of the 
most fertile countries of the world, they had rapidly multiplied 
into a great nation ; so that, notwithstanding the ill feeling 
which ultimately prevailed, Egypt had been compelled to act 
as a nursing mother to Israel. During their residence in 
Egypt, the original character of the Israelites had been some- 
what modified by intimacy with Egyptian habits and ideas, 
and by familiarity with Egyptian modes of life, though to a 
less degree than might have happened, had they not lived so 
much apart by themselves in the land of Goshen. Never- 
theless, they must have acquired a knowledge of agriculture, 
and of the arts of settled and social life in which the Egyp- 
tians excelled, and so far they had undergone a useful training 
for their destined condition. And inasmuch as it was the 
divine intention that they should exchange the comparative 

* Incorrectly rendered "borrow" in our version. 

t Thus, the men lit to hear arms are seldom half the entire male population: and this 
again must be doubled for the females, who are never less, and generally more numerous 
than the males. 



CHARACTER OF THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT. 163 

inertness of pastoral life for the cares and labours of agricul- 
ture, even the bitter bondage in Egypt may, in its real effect, 
have been a serviceable schooling of the nation into those 
habits of regular industry which their destined condition would 
require. On the other hand, the iron of their bondage had 
entered into their soul ; their religion had become tainted 
with the superstitions of Egypt ; and their mind and character 
had acquired the hue which continued bondage never fails to 
impart. They had become a timid, selfish, vain, idle, suspi- 
cious, unconfiding, mean, and ungenerous people. It soon 
appeared that the generation which quitted Egypt was 
utterly unfit to enter Canaan ; and several generations passed 
before the taint of the Egyptian bondage was wholly purged 
from the blood of Israel. 



164 



CHAPTER II. B. C. 1491. 



Passage of the Ked Sea, 
The first fall of Manna, 



b. c. I 

1491 Defeat of Amakkites.. 
1491 | Arrival in Sinai, . 




1. With a view to the condition and character of the 
people, and their unfitness for immediate action, it was not 
the Divine intention that the emancipated Israelites should 
go directly and by the nearest way to the land of Canaan, 
entering it on the south-west, where the Philistines and other 
warlike tribes were stationed; but to go round by the desert 
and approach on the south- eiist, from which quarter they 
might get into the very heart of the country before any 
serious opposition could be encountered. But first they were 
to be led into the peninsula of Sinai, among the mountains 
where Moses had seen the burning bush, that they might 
there be properly organized, and receive the laws and insti- 
tutions necessaiy to keep them as a peculiar people among 
the nations. In their march the Israelites could not be mis- 
taken in their course ; for a miraculous pillar, of cloud by day 
and of fire by night, went always before them to direct their 
way. They rested whenever it stood still, and whenever it 
moved they followed. 

2. From Egypt the hosts of Israel marched towards the 
western arm* of the Red Sea, round the head of which lay 
the usual road to the peninsula of Sinai. On arriving at the 
sea, they encamped on its hither shore in such a manner that 
they had the sea before them and the mountains behind, and 
could only retreat by returning to Egypt by the way they 
came or by going round by the head of the gulf into the 
peninsula. 

3. In the three days which had passed since the Israelites left 
Egypt, the alarm of the Egyptian king subsided into resentment 
for the calamities which Egypt had suffered for their sake : 
the loss of the services of so large a body of well-trained serfs, 
was also a matter of no small moment : and, therefore, when 



* Tfow the Gulf of Suez. 



PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 



165 



he received information that they had encamped in so disad- 
vantageous a position as that which has been described, he 
determined to follow them with his troops, and, by cutting off 
their retreat round the head of the gulf, either drive them 
back into Egypt by the way they came, or destroy them 
where they lay. Dreadful was the consternation of the 
Hebrews when the appearance of Pharaoh and his host made 
known to them their danger. Only a miracle could save 
them ; and that miracle was wrought. At the command of 
God, Moses uplifted his rod over the waters, when imme- 
diately a strong wind 
arose, by which a 
broad track was open- 
ed through the sea 
for the passage of the 
chosen race, dryshod, 
to the other side, where, 
by the break of morn- 
ing, they all arrived in 
safety. With marvel- 
lous temerity,Pharaoh, 
with his chariots and 
horsemen, entered in 

, -, r 108. Egyptian War Chariot. 

pursuit ; when Moses, 

from the further shore, again stretched forth his rod, and the 
waters suddenly returned and overwhelmed them all. This 
great event, which was celebrated by the daughters of Israel 
in triumphant hymns, had a most salutary effect upon the 
neighbouring nations, impressing them with a great dread of 
the mighty God by whom the Israelites were protected. 

4. The now secure multitude tarried a short time at this 
place, and then marched southward for three days through 
the wilderness of Shur, where they began to be in want of 
water. This caused them to murmur greatly, especially 
when, on coming to Marah, they found water which was too 
bitter to be of any use. To pacify it Moses was instructed 
to cast a branch of a certain tree into it, and it then became 
sweet and drinkable. Their next resting-place was at Elim, 
where twelve wells, shaded by seventy palm trees, gave 
abundant water to the people and their flocks. 




166 



THE FIRST FALL OF MANNA. 



5. Journeying from Elim, the people having exhausted 
the provisions they had brought from Egypt, began to suffer 
hunger. On this they gave way to their usual unmanly 
waitings, and to the most ungenerous reflections upon their 
great leader. They forgot the miracles of God, and remem- 
bered only the "flesh pots" of Egypt. God rebuked them; 
but he promised that they should have meat in the evening, 
and in the morning bread to the full. This he made good 
by causing a vast flight of quails to rest that evening upon 
the camp; and of these large quantities were taken and 
dressed for food. And in the morning, when the dew was 
gone, the ground was found to be covered, as by hoar-frost, 
with small, round, white particles, like coriander seed for size 
and shape, and the taste of which was like fine bread 
sweetened with honey. The wondering inquiry Man-hut 
(what is this ?) which the Israelites addressed to one another 
on beholding it, caused this food to be called Manna. This 
proved to be the commencement of a supply of " bread from 
heaven," which was furnished daily, except on the Sabbaths, 
for forty years. Still advancing southward towards the upper 
region of Sinai, the Israelites passed over an arid tract of 
country and encamped at Eephidim. As no water was found 
at this place, the people broke forth into their usual murmurs ; 
and on this occasion, so wild and fierce did their passions rise 
under the agonies of thirst, that Moses and Aaron were in 
danger of being stoned for having brought them to that wil- 
derness, unless some immediate relief were given. Moses was 
instructed by God to take some of the elders as witnesses, and 
strike with his rod a rock in Horeb. He did so ; and from that 
rock an abundant stream immediately broke forth and flowed to 
the Hebrew camp. Moses signalized this transaction by call- 
calling the place Massa (temptation), and Meribah {strife). 

6. By this time the movements of the Israelites had attracted 
the attention of the inhabitants of the peninsula of Sinai ; and 
that warlike tribe, the Amalekites, whose quarters the Hebrew 
host now approached, determined to assault them, stimulated, 
perhaps, by the hope of acquiring the Egyptian wealth with 
which they were laden. On this Moses directed a valiant 
young man named Joshua, who always attended him, to draw 
out a body of choice troops, and give the Amalekites battle 



ARRIVAL AT SINAI. 



167 



on the morrow. The next morning when Joshua marched 
forth against the Amalekites, Moses, accompanied by his 
brother Aaron, and by Hur, ascended to the top of a moun- 
tain and prayed to God in view of the warriors and the 
people. It was soon discovered that while the hands of 
Moses were uplifted in prayer, Israel prevailed over Amalek ; 
but that when his hands hung down in weariness, Amalek 
was the stronger ; and, therefore, Aaron and Hur placed 
themselves beside the prophet and sustained his interceding 
hands until the evening, by which time the Amalekites were 
put to utter rout. This signal success in their first military 
enterprise greatly encouraged the Israelites ; and by Divine 
authority and command, the race of Amalek was, for this 
first and most unprovoked act of hostility against the chosen 
people, devoted to utter extermination. 

7. After this the Hebrews advanced to Mount Sinai, called 
also Mount Horeb, where the Lord had appeared to Moses in 
the burning bush. While the host remained encamped in the 
valleys below, Moses was frequently called up by the Lord 
into the mountain ; and sometimes, by command, he took up 
Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Joshua, and other principal persons, a 
part of the way with him ; and they were permitted to be- 
hold that resplendence which is named " the glory of God." 
Never was the intercourse between God and a man made so 
obvious to the senses as it was at this time, with regard to 
Moses, upon this mountain ; and the reason evidently was, 
that a weak-minded and suspicious people might be the more 
strongly convinced of his Divine mission, and the more readily 
obey him as their leader. An infant nation, circumstanced 
like the Israelites in leaving Egypt, required, more than an 
advanced people can well apprehend, that kind of evidence 
which may be seen and handled ; and this consideration will 
be found to explain many circumstances in the history of the 
measures which God at this time took with the Israelites. 

8. The first important act was to obtain from the assembled 
nation a distinct acknowledgment of the supreme authority of 
Jehovah, and the promise of implicit obedience to him. This 
was becomingly and cheerfully given by the people ; and by 
that act they became a nation with the Lord himself for their 
King, in a sense in which he never was the king of any other 



1.68 



ARRIVAL AT SINAI. 



people. This it is important to remember, as the clearness 
of the history very much depends upon the recollection of the 
fact, that the Lord was not only the God of the Israelites, 
and of the whole world ; and not only the King of the Israel- 
ites, in the same sense in which he was and is King and 
Governor of the universe ; but that he was, in a peculiar 
sense, and for a peculiar purpose, their real political and 
national King and Head, and as such entitled to direct the 
affairs of the state, and to require political and civil obedience 
from his people. His sovereign power being recognised, the 
Lord appointed the third day after as that in which he would 
appear with glory upon the mountain, to deliver the laws to 
which he required obedience. Meanwhile the people were to 
purify themselves against that day ; and fences were placed 
around the mountain, that none might trespass too near the 
sacred presence. 

9. On that day, being the fiftieth after the departure from 
Egypt, the Lord descended upon the top of Mount Sinai, which 
then trembled greatly, while the lightning flashed, and the 
thunders rolled, and the summit was enveloped in a vast body 
of flame, from which a great smoke arose. The awe-struck 
multitude remained at the foot of the mountain ; but Moses 
and Aaron ascended, although only the former dared to enter 
the cloud which veiled the presence of God. No form was 
seen by the people or by Moses ; but a voice was heard 
giving utterance to the words of the Decalogue. So awful 
was that voice, and so appalling were the circumstances, that 
the people were struck with fear, and entreated that God 
would henceforth make known to them his will through Moses, 
and that they might thenceforth hear the voice and the 
"mighty thunderings" no more. Accordingly, in successive 
visits to the mountain, Moses received the great body of civil, 
ceremonial, and political laws and institutions, which, on his 
return, he wrote down as we now find them in the Pentateuch, 
and read to the people. The greater number of these insti- 
tutions were delivered to him on one occasion when he was 
absent not less than forty days on the mountain, at the end 
of which he received, written upon tables of stone, the ten 
fundamental laws of the Decalogue, which had before been 
orally delivered. 



169 



CHAPTER III. B.C. 1491 to 1490. 



The Law delivered 
Tabernacle completed 



1491 
1490 



Aaron and his sons appointed 
Priests 



1 . Dueixg his absence, Moses left the charge of the people 
to Aaron and Hur. After long waiting, they gave him np for 
lost, and ceased to expect his return. The salutary restraint 
of his presence being thus withdrawn, the infatuated Israelites 
clamoured to Aaron for a sensible image or similitude of the 
God they worshipped, such as other nations had, that it might 
go before them, and be always among them. This was con- 
trary to the very first law which the people had lately heard 
delivered from amidst the thunders of Sinai. From the pre- 
valent danger of idolatry, they had been strictly enjoined not 
only not to worship other gods, but not to make any figure or 
similitude or symbol of the true God for the purpose of worship. 
But, heedless of this, the people persisted in their demand, 
and Aaron weakly yielded ; and of the ornaments which they 
contributed, he caused 
to be made a golden 
calf — probably because 
under the form of a 
calf or young ball, the 
Egyptians worshipped 
then most popular god, 
Osiris. No sooner was 
the golden calf com- 
pleted than Aaron pro- 
claimed a feast to the 
Lord, which the peo- 
ple celebrated with 
dances and heathenish sports, before the degrading symbol of 
his presence which they had set up. 

2. Meanwhile, Moses was dismissed from his high con- 
ference with God on the clouded mountain top ; and in his 
descent, with the tables of the law in his hands, was joined 




109. Egyptian Calf-Idol. 



170 



THE LAW DELITEE ED. 



by the faithful Joshua, who had remained below. As they 
proceeded, they arrived at a point which commanded a 
view of the carnp and the proceedings there. Xo sooner 
did the Prophet behold the people abandoning themselves to 
heathenish merriment before their idol, than he was seized 
with vehement indignation, and cast from him the tables of 
the law with such force that they were broken in pieces. He 
hastened forward, and his presence struck the crowd with 
dismay. He broke down and destroyed their image ; and 
after reproving Aaron, called around him the men of his own 
tribe, the Levites, and ordered them to execute judgment on 
the revolters. Three thousand men fell in the slaughter 
which they made. After this, Moses was commanded to pre- 
pare two new tablets of stone, which he took np to the Mount, 
where they received the words which had been graven on the 
broken tables. When he came down from the Mount on this 
occasion, it was found that his countenance had become so 
radiant that the people were not able to look steadfastly at 
his face ; and hence he covered his head with a veil. 

3. Order being restored, Moses proceeded to execute the 
commands which he had received during his long stay in the 
Mount ; and the recent exhibition which the people had made 
of then tendency to sensible symbols and material idols, only 
the more evinced the necessity for the measures which were 
taken. A purely spiritual worship of an invisible God, and a 
true allegiance to an invisible King, were beyond the reach of 
their under standing, and then condition. Therefore, in so far 
as his ineffable greatness coidd stoop to the littleness of man, 
he determined to make his presence among them felt by sensible 
manifestations, by ministers, officers, and ceremonies. He was 
their King ; and he determined as such to dwell among them, 
and to connect with the requisitions of his peculiar and political 
character, such religious observances as would constantly 
remind them that he who stooped to be their King, was also 
their God, and the Lord of the iiniverse. 

4. In the first place, they were to provide for him a 
palace-temple, containing all things meet for the state of a 
Divine King ; a throne, a table, an incense altar, a superb 
candelabrum, — all formed of, or overlaid with, the finest gold. 
The throne was the ark, the table that of shewbread. The 



TABERNACLE COMPLETED. 



171 



dwelling itself, the Tajernacle, was necessarily so made as 
to be taken to pieces, and carried from place to place as occasion 
required. When standing it was an oblong structure fifty-five 
feet in length, by eighteen in breadth and in height, formed 
of acacia wood overlaid with plates of gold, and the whole 
overhung with rich palls and curtains. In the enclosure in 
front was erected a large bu portable brazen- altar, on which 
were to be offered daily and occasional sacrifices ; and here 
also was an immense basin or laver of the same metal, in 
which the ministers of the Divine King were to perform their 
ablutions. When the sacred edifice was completed and set 
up, the pillar of cloud, which has already been mentioned, 
moved from its previous station, and rested upon it ; and a 
wondrous resplendence called the Shechinah, or " glory of 
God," filled the place, and ultimately concentrated over the 
ark, where it became the appropriate and abiding symbol of 
the Divine presence. 

5. For the state of the Great King, ministers and officers 
were necessary. According to patriarchal usage, there was 
no distinct order of priesthood — such sacerdotal offices as their 
simple worship required being discharged by the first-born. In 
conformity with this, the first-born had, as we have seen, been 
set apart to the service of God on the departure from Egypt, 
with a further reference to a commemoration thereby of their 
preservation, when all the first-born of the Egyptians were 
destroyed. But now that the Israelites had evinced their need 
of a more ostensible system of worship, it was deemed proper, 
for the sake of better organization, that a whole tribe, instead of 
the first-born of all tribes, should be set apart for this service. 
The tribe of Levi, to which Moses and Aaron belonged, was 
therefore chosen for the general service of the theocratical 
government; and the family of Aaron was selected for the higher 
and more special services of the priesthood, Aaron himself being 
the high-priest. All these had peculiar dresses suitable to their 
service, which they were to use when they officiated : at other 
times they were dressed like the rest of the community. The 
dress of the high-priest was very splendid, especially by reason 
of a breast-plate of gold, in which were set twelve precious 
stones, on each of which was graven the name of a tribe in 
Israel. This was called the Urim and Thummim. 



172 CONSECRATION OF AARON AND HIS SONS. 

6. To support the court and ministers of the Great King, 
which involved also a provision for public worship, it was 
directed that the Levitical tribe should have one-tenth (tithe), 
and the first fruits of the produce of the fields and of the 
flocks. The tithe was what kings were in the habit of exacting 
for the support of the government, and as a sort of quit-rent 
for the soil, of which they were regarded the sovereign pro- 
prietors ; and more than once does the Lord assert this right, 
as King, to the soil of Palestine. Besides, the tribe of Levi 
was to have no territorial inheritance ; and as their exclusion 
left more for the other tribes, they had a claim of right to com- 
pensation from those tribes ; for the few towns which were 
given to them for residence were no adequate compensation 
for their foregoing an equal heritage in the soil of the Promised 
Land. 

7. The people worked with ardour, and contributed with 
liberality and zeal, in giving effect to all those designs and 
operations ; for a gorgeous regality and theocracy, with a 
splendid court and imposing ritual, were exactly suited to 
their condition of mind, and gave them a feeling of importance 
and concentration, which they could not well have realized 
by any other means. Eight days after the solemn consecration 
of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, their ministrations 
commenced by the first burnt- offering upon the altar. On 
that occasion the Lord was pleased to signify his complacency 
by the appearance of that "glory" or resplendence, of which we 
have so often spoken, and from which a fire now darted forth 
which consumed the burnt- offering that lay upon the altar. 
At this sign of favour and acceptance the people shouted and 
fell upon their faces in adoration (Lev. ix.) The fire thus 
kindled was commanded to be continually kept up (Lev. vi. 
12, 13) ; nor was it lost until the Babylonish captivity. No 
fire but this was lawful in any ministerial service, as two of 
the sons of Aaron, called Nadab and Abihu, found to their 
cost ; for when, through carelessness or wilful daring, they 
put common fire in their censers, and offered incense there- 
with, they were struck dead ; a suffocating flame shot through 
and destroyed them, without injuring then bodies or their 
garments. 

8. During the subsequent stay at Sinai, great pains were 



ORDER OF ENCAMPMENT OF THE TRIBES. 



173 



taken to organise the vast body which now composed the 
Hebrew nation. A census was taken, which exhibited nearly 
the same result as the rough estimate given on quitting 
Egypt, being rather more than 600,000 men fit to bear arms, 
which, as we have shewn, is usually one-fourth of the entire 
population (Num. i.) A particular account of the order by 
which the marchings and encampments of this vast host was 
regulated is given in Num. ii. This regulated movement 
and orderly disposition must have been very imposing, whilst 
nothing could be more effective for preventing confusion. 
The tribes usually encamped so as to form a hollow square, 
in the centre of which was the tabernacle, within a smaller 
square formed by the tents of the sacerdotal tribe according 
to the following order. 



EAST. — FIRST DIVISION — CAMP OF JUDAH : 186,400. 



JUDAH, 

74,600. 



ISSACHAR 

54,400. 



ZEBULUN, 

57,400. 



MOSES, AARON, 
AND THE PRIESTS. 



■0Q9Z 
'saxiKOHsaao 



'mitrvriiaa ai^v hsssvmvw 

•oos'of 

'iCIVHHia 



"001 801 :i^iVHH<ia ao <ikvo — koisiaiq cramx — ussav 



9. For the idea of another excellent arrangement, Moses 
was indebted to Jethro, his father-in-law, who came from his 
home, which was at no great distance, to congratulate the 



174 APPOINTMENT OF INFERIOR JUDGES. 

Deliverer of Israel, and to bring to hirn his wife and two 
sons. During his stay this old man observed with concern 
the great labour which Moses had taken upon himself, in 
hearing the complaints and determining the differences of so 
great a people ; and fearing that he would soon be utterly 
worn out by such incessant labour, he counselled him to 
commit the hearing of secondary causes to subordinate officers, 
some over thousands, some over hundreds, some over fifties, 
and some over tens — reserving for his own hearing only the 
weightier causes, and appeals from the inferior tribunals. 
This counsel being approved, was put into immediate execu- 
tion, and the order thus established was long after preserved 
among the Israelites. 

10. In the sequestered wilderness of Sinai, nearly a year 
was spent by the Hebrew people, when, the constitution of 
their civil and ecclesiastical polity being completed, the re- 
moval of the cloudy pillar from off the tabernacle, gave the 
signal to depart, in the twentieth day of the second month of 
the second year after the departure from Egypt. 



175 



CHAPTER IV. B.C. 1490 to 1489. 



B.C. 

The Israelites leave Sinai .... 1490 

Supply of Quails 1490 

Sedition of Miriam and Aaron . . 1490 
Arrival at Kadesh Barnea .... 1490 
Spies sent into Canaan 1490 



B.C. 

Their ill report of the land discourages 

the people . 1490 

Sentence to wander 40 years in the 

Desert 1490 

| Leave Kadesh Barnea 1489 



1. In the journey from Sinai to the frontiers of Canaan, 
several occurrences evinced the still intractable and unmanly 
character of the people, and their unfitness to receive the 
inheritance promised to their fathers. The renewed fatigues 
and privations of travel through the Desert soon raised their 
murmurs, which, at the third stage, became so outrageous, 
that their Divine King manifested his displeasure by causing 
a fire to rage in the outskirts of the camp, which was only 
stayed at the intercession of Moses, when the people recog- 
nised the hand of God. Hence the place was called Taberah 
{the burning). 

2. The next offence commenced among the " mixed mul- 
titude " which accompanied the Hebrew host, but involved 
many of the Israelites. Whatever fortitude they had, soon 
gave way before the privations of the Desert. There was, 
indeed, plenty of manna; but they had grown dainty, and 
" their souls loathed that light food." They lamented that 
they had ever left Egypt, and remembered, with tender regret, 
the cooling melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlick, and the 
other fruits and vegetables which they had enjoyed in abun- 
dance ; as well as the fish and the meat, which in that rich 
land they had "eaten to the full." All this greatly oppressed 
the spirit of Moses, and his address to God on that occasion 
marks his deep despondency. To comfort him, and to enable 
him the better to sustain his heavy charge, he was directed 
to choose seventy competent men from the elders of Israel, 
who should act as a council, and assist him in the govern- 
ment of the people. These being nominated by Moses, were 
to be brought to the door of the tabernacle, where the Divine 
King gave undoubted signs of their acceptance. 



176 



SEDITION OF MIRIAM AND AARON. 



3. As to the murmuring people, it was promised — not in 
kindness, but in anger — that on the morrow, and for a month 
after, they should have "meat to the 11111." Accordingly, the 
miracle of the quails was repeated ; and so abundant was the 
supply of these birds, that not only were the people able to 
glut themselves for the time, but to preserve a great quantity 
for future use. In the midst of their over-feeding on this 
meat, their incensed God caused a terrible plague to break 
out among them, whereby great numbers were destroyed. 
Excessive indulgence in a kind of food to which people have 
not been lately accustomed, produces a mortal fever well 
known to travellers ; and this was probably the instrument 
employed in punishing the gluttonous people, who found a 
grave at Kibroth Hattaavah [the graves of hungering). 

4. At Hazeroth, the spirit of opposition to Moses broke 
out in his own family, in consequence of his having married 
the foreign woman Zipporah, who had lately been brought 
among them. Miriam, the sister of Moses, who had previ- 
ously held the chief place among the women in Israel, and who 
was now probably jealous of the respect paid to the wife of 
Moses, was the leader in this affair, and was soon joined by 
Aaron, who probably feared the influence which the newly 
arrived family were likely to acquire in prejudice to his own 
sons, on whom the priesthood had been conferred. At all 
events, their feeling was bad, and as the expression of it 
tended to undermine the authority of Moses, the Lord testified 
his displeasure by smiting Miriam with leprosy, and as a leper 
she was excluded from the camp. But in seven days she was 
restored at the intercession of Moses, after Aaron had humbled 
himself, and acknowledged their joint offence. 

5. Nothing remarkable occurred in the march through 
the wilderness of Paran until the arrival at Kadesh Barnea, 
on the southern border of the Promised Land, when Moses 
encouraged the people to proceed boldly, and take possession of 
their heritage. But they betrayed some diffidence, and re- 
solved first to send twelve spies, one from each tribe, to 
traverse the country, and to bring them an account of the 
land and its inhabitants. After an absence of forty days, 
the spies came back with a large cluster of grapes, and other 
fruits of the country — many of which were new to men from 



SENTENCE TO WANDER FORTY YEARS IN THE DESERT. 177 

Egypt. Of the country itself, and of its productions, they 
gave a very glowing account ; but the inhabitants they de- 
scribed as warlike and, in some places, gigantic, dwelling in 
high- walled and seemingly impregnable cities ; and they 
declared it as their opinion, that however desirable the 
country, the Israelites were by no means equal to the con- 
quest of it from the present inhabitants. This statement filled 
the timorous multitude with dismay ; and they threatened to 
stone two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, who proclaimed 
their conviction that, with the Divine aid, which was pro- 
mised to them, they were fully equal to the enterprize. 
Breaking out into open mutiny, they even talked of appoint- 
ing a leader to conduct them back to their bondage in Egypt. 

6. For this last melancholy display of their utter unfit- 
ness for the promised inheritance, of their insensibility to the 
great things which had been done for them, and of their gross 
incapacity of comprehending his great designs, the Lord's 
anger was greatly kindled against them. The mysterious 
"glory" suddenly appeared in the cloud which rested upon the 
tabernacle ; and that manifestation of the present God struck 
mute every clamorous tongue, and filled all hearts with fear. 
The Divine voice now threatened instant extinction to the 
revolters, and promised to make of Moses and his family a 
nation greater and mightier than they. This offer had been 
made on a former occasion, and was then, as now, reverently 
declined by the disinterested prophet ; and he and his brother 
lay prostrate before the cloud, with their faces to the ground, 
interceding for the people. Their prayer had power with 
God, and the doom of instant death and disinheritance was 
averted. But it was pronounced that not one of the tainted 
generation — composed of those who were of full age on leaving 
Egypt — should enter the Promised Land ; but that they 
should wander for forty years* to and fro in the wilderness, 
until they were all dead, and until their children had grown 
up into a generation fitter than they to receive the heritage 
of Abraham. From this doom only the two faithful spies, 
Joshua and Caleb, were exempted: the ten others were 
smitten with that instant death which their conduct deserved 
(Num. xiv.) 

* Eorty years from the departure from Egypt, nearly 38 from this point of time. 



178 



LEAVE KADESH BARNEA. 



7. This awful denunciation had the remarkable, but not 
unnatural, effect of driving the Israelites from their childish 
timidity to the very opposite extreme of unauthorised and 
presumptuous rashness. The Canaanites and Amalekites 
had already taken alarm, and possessed themselves of the 
passes in the mountains which lay before the Hebrew host. 
Notwithstanding this advantage on the side of the enemy, 
and in spite of the earnest remonstrances of Moses, a large 
body of the Israelites determined to march forward and take 
possession of the country. They were driven back with 
great slaughter ; and immediately after, in obedience to the 
Divine mandate, the camp at Kadesh Barnea was broken up, 
and the people conducted back into the desert towards the 
Red Sea. 

8. Here, in the deserts between Palestine and Sinai, they 
wandered their appointed time, the generation which received 
the law in Horeb becoming gradually extinct. During all 
this time they continued to lead the same pastoral or Bedouin 
life as they had done before, living on manna and the produce 
of their flocks and herds ; and removing from one station to 
another, as directed by the pillared cloud which rested upon 
the tabernacle. 



179 



CHAPTER V. B.C. 1489 to 1452. 



PATEIAKCHS. 

B. C. 

Rebellion of Koran . 1471 
Return to Kadesh Bar- 

nea 1453 

Death of Aaron . . 1453 

The Fiery Serpents . 1452 



EGYPT. 

B. C. 

Amunoph II. . . 1456 



EVENTS AND PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Danaus arrives (in a 
ship) from Egypt, 
and possesses him- 
self of Argos . . 1485 

The Olympic games 
first celebrated at 



Elis 1453 

1. During all this period, only one event of much im- 
portance is recorded. This was a very serions revolt against 
the theocratical government, by persons of high rank and 
consequence in some of the tribes. The rebels were heads 
of families and clans, who would have possessed high civil 
power, and would have exercised priestly functions under the 
patriarchal government : and their attempt must be regarded 
as a struggle of the old institutions against the new. In 
some shape or other, such a conflict almost always takes 
place between new forms of government and the ancient 
institutions which are altered or superseded. A settled and 
central government absorbs the power which, in a ruder state 
of society, is exercised by individuals over small sections of 
the general body ; and these are commonly too fond of power 
to relinquish it without a struggle. Among the Hebrews, 
the supreme authority under which the new institutions had 
been framed, kept the great body of the natural heads of 
tribes and families quiet, whatever may have been their 
secret discontent; but there were some audacious spirits 
whom even this consideration could not restrain. 

2. Korah, although himself a Levite, appears to have 
been the chief instigator of this revolt. His birth and sta- 
tion would have entitled him to a leading place in the tribe ; 
and it is more than probable that another family being 
appointed to the priesthood, was the chief cause of his dis- 
content. This, however, was not a ground on which he 
could expect much support from the chiefs of other tribes ; 
and it was therefore pretended, that the liberties of the people 



180 



REBELLION OF KORAH. 



had been infringed by Moses and Aaron ; and that the heads 
of families had been unjustly deprived of the sacerdotal and 
other powers, which naturally belonged to them. The man- 
ner in which the high-priesthood had been made a high 
political office in a theocracy, exposed the priesthood to the 
jealousy which it might have escaped had its duties been 
only sacerdotal. 

3. Besides Korah, two chiefs of the tribe of Eeuben, 
Dathan and Abiram, are named as the principal malcontents; 
and it will be remembered, that this tribe, descended from 
the first-born of Jacob, had, as regards the civil and sacer- 
dotal rights of primogeniture, suffered more than any other 
by the existing institutions, which gave the civil pre-eminence 
to Judah, and the sacerdotal to Levi. Two hundred and 
fifty other chiefs, probably from the different tribes, joined in 
this conspiracy, the very grave character of which may be 
estimated from the description of these persons as " princes 
of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown" 
(Num. xvi. 2). 

4. The people appear to have been well disposed to listen 
to those who told them that they had cause to be discon- 
tented ; that their liberties had been taken from them ; and 
that the yoke of a central government was too heavy to be 
borne. The leaders, therefore, being supported by a large 
body of the " congregation," at length openly charged Moses 
and Aaron with the usurpation of civil and pontifical power, 
and required them to lay it down. It was admitted that the 
appointments of the Divine King were absolute ; but it was 
denied that it was, or could be, his intention that such powers 
should be vested in their hands. This they could only dis- 
pute by indirectly doubting the testimony of Moses, who 
brought this institution with him on his return from the 
Mount ; and it was clear that, if his legislative agency in this 
matter could be set aside, an opening was made for overturn- 
ing the whole system which rested on the same foundation. 
This was, no doubt, secretly understood on all sides : hence 
Moses at once saw that a special manifestation that the 
Aaronic priesthood was a Divine appointment, had become 
necessary, not only to establish that institution, but for the 
confirmation of the whole system, of which that was an inte- 



AARON STAYS THE PLAGUE. 



181 



gral part : and, in the confidence that God would vindicate 
his own appointments, Moses was content to refer the matter 
to him. After some strong words of reproof, he therefore 
invited the leading conspirators to exercise on the morrow, 
by offering incense, the sacerdotal functions to which they 
laid claim, and then the Lord would doubtless make known 
his own decision. Awful was that decision ! As they stood 
with their censers to offer incense, they were suddenly con- 
sumed by fire from His presence : and the Beubenites, Dathan 
and Abiram, who had refused to attend, did not escape ; for 
the earth opened and eugulphed them where they stood, with 
their tents and all that belonged to them. 

5. The discontent which these unhappy men had en- 
couraged among the people, was too widely spread, and too 
deeply rooted, for even this awful judgment to subdue. The 
turbulent mob were, indeed, struck with present horror and 
alarm at the destruction of their leaders ; but the next day 
they rallied, and assembled in great numbers, clamouring 
against Moses and Aaron, as if they were the authors of that 
judgment which the wrath of God had inflicted. Now again 
was the Divine wrath kindled, and a consuming plague went 
forth among the people. They fell, like corn before the 
reaper, until Aaron, at the desire of Moses, took a censer, 
with burning incense, and rushing forth among the people, 
stood between the living and the dead, when the plague was 
stayed. On this occasion fourteen hundred people perished 
(Num. xvi.) 

6. The destruction of those who unwarrantably pretended 
to sacerdotal functions, and the honour put upon Aaron by 
the plague being stayed at his intercession in his priestly 
character, were calculated to settle all real doubt regarding 
his appointment. But to place this matter beyond contro- 
versy, the Divine King was pleased to grant a special and 
abiding miracle. Moses was directed to take a rod from 
each of the tribes, and to engrave upon each rod the name 
of the tribe to which it belonged, but upon the rod of Levi 
to write Aaron's name. All these rods were laid up in the 
tabernacle, before the ark, God having signified that he 
would cause to blossom the dry rod of the man chosen and 
appointed by him. The next day the rods were brought 



182 



RETURN TO KADESH BARNEA. 



forth and delivered to those to whom they belonged, when it 
was found that the rod of Aaron had budded, blossomed, and 
borne ripe almonds. The rod which became the witness 
that Aaron had been divinely appointed to the priesthood, 
was directed to be laid up among the muniments of the 
tabernacle. 

7. At length the forty years, during which the Israelites 
had been doomed to wander in the wilderness, were nearly 
expired, and the generation which, by their disobedience, had 
forfeited their title to the Promised Land, had perished. The 
new generation, although far from faultless, was, upon the 
whole, much superior to that which had passed away, and 
better fitted for the promised inheritance. As the time drew 
nigh, the host returned to the borders of Canaan, and we 
again find it encamped at Kadesh, whence it had formerly 
been sent back into the desert. Miriam, the sister of Moses 
and Aaron, died here ; and here the brothers themselves 
forfeited their claim to enter the Promised Land. The want 
of water was experienced at Kadesh with so much severity, 
that the people became clamorous and reproachful. By this 
Moses and Aaron were so much disturbed, that, when in- 
structed to smite a certain rock, from which water should 
then flow, they exhibited such impatience and distrust as, if 
left unpunished, might have had an injurious effect on the 
minds of the people. They were therefore interdicted from 
entering Canaan ; but, at his earnest entreaty, Moses was 
promised a distant view of that " goodly land " which the 
Lord had promised to his people. 

8. Considering the strength of the southern frontier of 
Canaan, and the warlike character of the inhabitants, it 
seemed much less desirable that the Israelites should invade 
the country on that side, and fight their way northward, 
than that they should at once enter a central and compara- 
tively undefended part of the land. This could only be 
achieved by passing northward over into the country east of 
the Dead Sea, and crossing the Jordan into the heart of 
Palestine. From Kadesh, the nearest way to the east 
country was through a great valley in the mountains of Seir, 
which, however, could not be traversed with safety, if any 
resistance were made by its inhabitants the Edomites. An 



THE FIERY SERPENTS. 



183 



embassy was therefore sent to the king of Edom, to remind 
him of the fraternity of the two nations, and request permis- 
sion to pass through his country. This request, although 
couched in the most civil and respectful language, met with 
a direct and churlish refusal. It was therefore determined 
to return to the head of the eastern arm of the Ked Sea, 
from which it was easy to pass to the other side of the Seir 
mountains. On the way they had to pass by Mount Hor, 
one of the loftiest of these mountains, at the base of which 
they encamped. Upon that mountain Aaron died, and was 
buried ; and his tomb is still seen afar off by those who 
travel in that solitary region. He was succeeded in the 
pontificate by his eldest son Eleazer (Num. xx.) 

9. Before the Israelites quitted this place, they were 
unexpectedly attacked by the Canaanitish king Arad, who 
took some of them prisoners. For this they in due season 
took ample vengeance, by the extermination of his tribe, and 
the desolation of the land in which it dwelt. 

10. The hosts of Israel on reaching Kadesh had fully 
expected that they were immediately to enter the Promised 
Land. They were, therefore, much discouraged at having 
to take another troublesome journey through so unpleasant a 
wilderness as that which bordered the land of Edom ; and, 
by the time they reached the vicinity of the Eed Sea, they 
broke forth into loud complaints for bread and water, and 
expressed their distaste at the manner in which they had 
been fed for nearly forty years, saying, "our soul loatheth 
this light food." For this impatience, and for the contempt 
of God's merciful provision, without which they must long 
ago have perished, the serpents, which infested, and do still 
infest that region, were sent among them in unwonted num- 
bers, and whoever was bitten by them died. On this the 
people confessed their sin, and sought the intercession of 
Moses, who was instructed to make a serpent of brass, and 
elevate it upon a pole in the midst of the camp ; and those 
who looked upon it were instantly cured. The brazen ser- 
pent was preserved as a memorial of this miracle for about 
900 years, when, because the people were disposed to render 
it idolatrous honours, it was destroyed by king Hezekiah. 



184 



CHAPTEK VI. 



B.C. 

The Israelites cross the Arnon . 1452 
Sihon and Og defeated .... 1452 
Balak and Balaam 1452 



B.C. 

The Midianites smitten .... 1452 

The people numbered 1452 

Moses dies 1451 



1. The Israelites passed, without molestation, along the 
eastern border of Mount Seir, and through the country of 
Moab, and encamped by the river Arnon. Of the country 
immediately to the north of that river, the descendants of Lot 
had before this time been dispossessed, by a colony of the 
Amorites from the other side of the Jordan. As it was an 
early law of nations, of which we have had a previous instance, 
that a body of armed men could not pass through a country 
without permission from the sovereign, Moses sent ambassadors 
to Heshbon to ask that permission. This was not only re- 
fused by King Sihon, but he went forth with an army to fight 
against the Israelites, and to drive them back. Hearing this, 
the Hebrews did not await his attack, but advanced to meet 
him half way ; and having routed him at Jahaz, they acquired 
possession of a very fine country, rich in pastures, and full of 
towns and cities. This acquisition brought them into the 
neighbourhood of Bashan, whose king, Og, was descended 
from the old gigantic race by whom the country was origi- 
nally inhabited. To give an idea of his bulk and stature, the 
sacred historian informs us that his bedstead was of iron, and 
that its length was thirteen feet and a half, and its width six. 
This monarch prepared to resent the defeat and slaughter of 
his friend and neighbour ; and the Israelites were somewhat 
dismayed when he appeared against them ; but being en- 
couraged by Moses with assurances of success, they fought 
bravely, and slew the monarch and dispersed his host. Thus 
the Israelites became possessed of the countries of Gilead 
and Bashan, east of the Jordan, although their views had in 
the first instance been confined to the region west of that 
river. 



BALAK AND BALAAM. 



185 



2. The Israelites now moved their encampment from the 
banks of the Arnon to the district of country near the northern 
extremity of the Dead Sea, called the Plains of Moab, as 
having once been in the territory of the Moabites. That 
nation was not at all pleased with these transactions. On 
entering the land of Moab, the Israelites had been cautioned 
to respect then descent from Lot, and offer them no molesta- 
tion ; and the Moabites, on their part, although they regarded 
the new-comers with no good will, were afraid to oppose them. 
Now, however, that the Hebrews had acquired such important 
possessions on that side of the river, a considerable portion 
of which had once belonged to the descendants of Lot, the 
wish to wound or crush this new power became very strong, 
and was only kept inoperative by a salutary dread of the 
consequences. At length Balak the king of Moab recollected 
a famous prophet who lived beyond the Euphrates, and fancied 
that if he could get him to come and lay a curse upon the 
Israelites, they might afterwards be attacked and destroyed 
with ease. He therefore sent an honourable embassy, with 
the promise of high distinctions and costly gifts, to tempt 
Balaam from his distant home. The covetous prophet was 
willing enough to earn the wages of iniquity ; but being for- 
bidden in a vision to go, he sent back the messengers with 
that intimation. Balak, however, believing that the objec- 
tion was only urged with the view of extorting a higher 
bribe, again sent a more dignified embassy, with the offer of 
still greater rewards. Knowing already the Divine will, 
Balaam ought at once to have rejected these offers, and sent 
the messengers home ; but, overcome by his avarice, he 
invited them to stay, and promised to make another effort to 
get leave to go with them. Displeased at this conduct, 
God left him to take his own course, and in the morning 
he joyfully mounted his ass to accompany the messengers 
of Balak. 

3. On the way, however, he met with an unexpected 
check. In a narrow road, he was stopped by an angel with 
a drawn sword. The angel was at first only visible to the 
ass ; and the obstinate refusal of the animal to proceed, so 
provoked Balaam, that he beat him most severely. On this 

i2 



186 



BALAK AND BALAAM. 



the beast was gifted for the moment with a human voice, in 
which he remonstrated against this treatment, and intimated 
that there was a cause for his obstinacy. That cause became 
instantly visible to the confounded prophet, who humbled 
himself before the angel, and offered to return home ; but was 
allowed to proceed, with the strict caution that on his arrival 
he should speak and act only as directed (Num. xxii.) 
He was received with great honour by the king of Moab, 
who, intent upon his design, lost no time in taking Balaam, 
first, to the high places of Baal, then to the top of Pisgah, 
and the third time to the top of Mount Peor ; from which, 
severally, he could view, first the whole, and then different 
parts of the Hebrew camp. At all these places altars were 
set up by Balaam's direction, and sacrifices offered. On each 
occasion the king wished the prophet to lay his curse upon 
the people before him ; and Balaam was more than willing 
to gratify him ; but he was constrained not only to abstain 
from cursing the Israelites, but to bless them altogether, and 
to utter the regretful but vain wish that his own portion 
were with them in life and in death. The king was dis- 
pleased that he had brought a blessing upon those he intended 
to curse ; and to pacify him, as well as to evince that he had 
acted contrary to his own will, Balaam proceeded to point 
out what he considered the most likely way to inflict a real 
injury upon the Israelites. He taught the king that none 
could injure that people while they remained faithful to their 
God, and had him for their defender ; and that, therefore, 
the true way to weaken them was to endeavour to seduce 
ihem from their allegiance to him — in which seduction he 
intimated that the women of Moab and of Midian might be 
employed. 

4. This atrocious counsel was eagerly followed by the 
princes of Moab and Midian. The latter nation were neigh- 
bours of the former, and took an active part with them in 
their underhand plots against the Israelites. A seemingly 
friendly intercourse was encouraged ; and the women of Moab 
and Midian, the latter especially, succeeded in drawing very 
many of the Israelites into the worship of their own idols. 
But this could not last. Idolatry was now a capital crime 



THE MIDIANITES SMITTEN. 



187 



by the law, having been made an act of treason against the 
Divine head of the theocratical government. Moses, there- 
fore, directed the jndges to enforce the law, in consequence 
of which the chief of those who had followed Baal-Peor (the 
great idol of these parts) were "hanged up before the Lord." 
A mortal plague was also sent forth among the people to 
punish them for their idolatry and lust. Twenty-four 
thousand were destroyed by this pestilence, before its ravages 
were stayed through the Divine complacency at the zealous 
act of Phinehas, the son of the high-priest, in slaying with 
his own hand Zimri, a prince of Simeon, and one of the fair 
idolatresses of Midian, whom he brought to his tent at the 
very time that the people stood lamenting their sin and its 
punishment (Num. xxv.) 

5. Moses was also commissioned to punish the Midianites 
by warring against them. A thousand men from each tribe 
were entrusted with this service, which they discharged with 
exemplary severity ; for, being conquerors in battle, they 
made tremendous havoc among the Midianites, and took a 
large number of female captives, with an immense spoil in 
cattle and rich goods and ornaments. The Moabites were 
less severely punished; but for their conduct on this and 
other occasions, it was decreed that, for ten generations to 
come, they, notwithstanding their near relationship, should be 
counted as strangers to Israel. 

6. The tribes of Eeuben and Gad, and half the tribe of 
Manasseh, having large possessions in flocks and herds, and 
observing that the conquered country on the east of the 
Jordan was rich in pasturage, applied to Moses that it should 
be given to them for their portion of the promised inheritance. 
As they explained that they sought not this for the sake of 
an earlier provision, or with a view to abandon the general 
cause, but were willing that their own men should go and 
assist the other tribes in the conquest of Canaan, their 
request was granted. 

7. Now that the host of Israel was composed of almost 
entirely new men, and that they were about to enter upon 
unwonted military actions, it was important that a fresh enu- 
meration of the population should be taken. The comparison 
between it and the census taken thirty-nine years before in 



188 



THE PEOPLE NUMBERED. 



Sinai affords some interesting information. The details are 
shewn in the table. 



Tribes. 


Chap. L 


Chap. XXVI. 


Increase 


Decrease 


Beuben .... 


46,500 


43,730 




2,770 


Simeon .... 


59,300 


22,200 




37,100 


Gad 


45,650 


40,500 




5,150 


Judah .... 


74,600 


76,500 


1,900 




Issachar . . . 


54,400 


64,300 


9,900 




Zebulun . . , 


57,400 


60,500 


3,100 




Ephraim . . . 


40,500 


32,500 




8i6'00 


Manasseh . . . 


32,200 


52,700 


20,500 




Benjamin . . . 


35,400 


45,600 


10,200 




Dan 


62,700 


64,400 


1,700 




Asher .... 


41,500 


53,400 


11,900 




Naplitali . . . 


53,400 


45,400 




8,'obo 




603,550 


601,730 


59,200 


61,020 








Decrease on the 


} 1,820 








whole . . 


Levites, from a ) 
month old f 


22,273 


23,000 


727 





8. From this comparison it appears that the population 
which had increased so rapidly in Egypt, had rather decreased 
in the wilderness. This is clearly a result of the Divine 
determination to remove by death in forty years the whole 
of those who were past twenty on quitting Egypt, in conse- 
quence of which there could at this time be no old men in the 
congregation ; and as the total population was nearly the 
same as when the Israelites commenced their journey, there 
must have been a great increase of the young, seeing there 
were none above sixty years old except Moses himself, who 
was soon to die, and Joshua and Caleb, who alone of the 
past generation were to enter the land of promise. The 
absence of aged and superannuated members exhibits a 
strange and singular social condition ; and while their removal 
by death was intended in the first instance as a judgment, it 
at the same time gave a character of remarkably unen- 
cumbered physical efficiency to the generation on which the 
conquest of Canaan devolved. But although the full num- 
ber is so nearly the same, it is siuprising to notice the very 
great changes of proportion in the several tribes — such as the 
increase of 20,500 in Manasseh, 11,900 in Asher, and 10,200 
in Benjamin; and the decrease of 37,100 in Simeon, and of 



THE PEOPLE NUMBERED. 



189 



8000 in Ephraim and in Naphtali. On both occasions the 
number of Judah was the highest ; but on the first occasion 
the lowest (omitting Levi) was Manasseh, and on the second, 
Simeon. At the first enumeration, the number of Judah 
more than doubled that of Manasseh, Benjamin, and Levi, 
and nearly doubled those of Eeuben, Gad, Ephraim, and 
Asher. At the second, Judah more than doubled Simeon, 
Ephraim, and Levi, and nearly doubled Eeuben, Benjamin, 
and Naphtali. Levi was the lowest in both accounts ; much 
lower, indeed, than appears ; for in that tribe all the males 
above a month old were counted, but in the other tribes only 
those fit to bear arms, or above twenty years of age. The 
enumeration being, as before, made only with reference to 
the adult male population, we must quadruple the amount to 
find the actual population, including women and children, 
and this, as before, we must necessarily estimate at about 
2,500,000. 

9. All this being accomplished, it only remained for 
Moses to die, and leave to other hands the task of conducting 
the children of Abraham into their promised inheritance. He 
therefore prepared for death by giving to the people who had 
so long been the objects of his solicitude, such directions and 
counsel as their circumstances appeared to require. After 
describing the boundaries of the Promised Land, he appointed 
the mode in which it should be divided among the several 
tribes, and directed that cities should be appropriated by each 
of them for the residence of the Levites who had no territo- 
rial inheritance, and that six of these cities should be regarded 
as places in which those who undesignedly or in self-defence 
slew others, might hold their lives safe from the avenger of 
blood (Num. xxxiv., xxxv.) 

10. After this Moses repeated the law which had been 
given on Mount Sinai to the people, a great proportion of 
whom had been born since it was delivered, or were too 
young to hold it in remembrance. He also recapitulated the 
acts of Divine mercy towards them, and judgment upon them, 
since the departure from Egypt ; and enjoined upon them the 
duty of destroying all the idols of Canaan, and of rooting out 
the doomed inhabitants. Then he renewed with the people, 
in the name of Jehovah, the covenant which had been made 



190 



MOSES DIES. 



in Sinai ; and delivered the book of the law to the care of 
the Levites, with directions to lay it up in the side of the ark. 
These particulars form the contents of the book of Deutero- 
nomy. 

11. The official duties of this great and good man being 
now terminated, he delivered to the assembled people an 
address, in which he described, in the most vivid language, 
the perverseness and disobedience of the nation, their punish- 
ment, repentance, and pardon. Lastly, he took leave of all 
the tribes, together and severally, in an eloquent and pathetic 
Messing, such as that which Jacob delivered to his sons before 
he died. Then, as he had been commanded, Moses ascended 
to the top of Pisgah, and took from thence a wide survey of 
" the pleasant land," to whose borders he had led a nation. 
And there he died unseen ; and he was buried secretly, and 
not by mortal hands ; for it was feared that if the Israelites 
knew the place of his sepulture, they might in the end be 
tempted to pay divine honours to his remains. At the time 
of his death Moses was 120 years of age, and we are told that 
he was exempt from the usual infirmities of age — that " his 
eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." 



BOOK III. 



CHAPTER I. B.C. 1451. 

B. C. I B. C. 

The Israelites cross the Jordan . . 1451 I Jericho taken an<l destroyed . . . 1451 

Circumcision restored 1451 I The offence of Achan 1451 

The manna ceases 1451 ! Ai taken hy stratagem 1451 

L After the death of their great lawgiver, the Israelites 
remained encamped on the "plains of Moab," awaiting the 
order to advance to the arduous enterprise of dispossessing 
nations greater, mightier, and better armed and disciplined 
than themselves ; more experienced in the art of war, and 
dwelling in fortified towns, with all the resources of the 
country at their command. So disproportionate seemed the 
situation of the invaders and the invaded, as to natural and 
acquired advantages, that the former, if they had looked to 
them only, might have been excused for regarding the result 
with some anxiety and apprehension. Certainly the Ca- 
naanites, regarded as a settled and valiant people, assailed 
by a comparatively undisciplined horde from the desert, may 
very well be spared the pity which some perverse under- 
standings bestow upon them, as if they were so many sheep 
awaiting slaughter at the hands of the Israelites. The dis- 
proportion was indeed so much to the disadvantage of the 
Hebrews, that, to render the balance somewhat more equal, 
the Lord saw fit that the operations should commence by a 
series of special and signal acts: of his own providence, to 
encourage the' chosen people, and to dismay their enemies. 
Indeed the marvels which had attended their deliverance 
from Egypt, and their progress through the wilderness, were 
well known to the Canaanites, and had inspired them with 
dread — not of the Israelites themselves, whom they probably 
despised as enemies — but of the God, the mighty and terrible 
God, who fought on their behalf. 



192 THE ISRAELITES CROSS THE JORDAN. 

2. In the plain on the other side of the river stood the 
city of Jericho, which must evidently be the first object of 
attack after the passage of the river. Joshua, therefore, sent 
spies to that place to collect information, and to ascertain the 
sentiments of the people. The spies were lodged by a woman 
named Eahab, who also concealed them when they were in- 
quired for by the authorities of the place ; and from her they 
received the encouraging information that the Canaanites 
were already dispirited : — " Your terror is fallen upon us," 
she said, " and all the inhabitants of the land faint because 

of you As soon as we had heard these things, our 

hearts did melt ; neither did there remain any more courage 
in any man because of you : for the Lord your God, he . is 
God in heaven above, and in earth beneath." It was, in 
fact, thus to glorify his own great name, by forcing the con- 
viction of His pre-eminence in power upon even those who 
did not serve him, that the Lord had wrought the wonders 
of which the Israelites were to reap the benefit. 

3. The design of the Israelites to establish themselves in 
Palestine, and to root out the old inhabitants, was perfectly 
well known to the Canaanites ; but they appear to have made 
no extraordinary preparations to repel the invaders, — trusting, 
probably, to the obstacle which at this time the river Jordan 
appeared to offer to their farther progress; for it was the time of 
the barley harvest, when the river, swollen with the latter rains 
and the melted snows, overflowed its banks, and ran with the 
fullest stream to the Dead Sea. In this calculation they 
underrated the power of that Almighty arm which they had 
already learned to dread. 

4. At length the order came to pass the river on a given 
day ; and this order was accompanied with a distinct confirma- 
tion to Joshua of his high and glorious office, attended with 
the assurance that, while he adhered to the spirit and principles 
of the theocracy, none of those who opposed him should be 
able to stand before him. This appointment was recognised 
with acclamations by the people, who readily covenanted their 
obedience : and with them Joshua appears to have been at 
all times very popular ; nor was his administration disturbed 
by such discontents and seditions as had disgraced the Israelites 
in the time of Moses. 



THE ISRAELITES CROSS THE JORDAN. 193 

5. The day appointed for the passage of the Jordan was 
the tenth day of the first month, only five days being wanting 
to complete forty years since the departure of the Hebrews 
from Egypt. On that day, the ark of the covenant was 
borne in solemn state by the priests, about one thousand yards 
before the people on their march to the river's brink. Xo 
sooner had the feet of the priests touched the water, than the 
course of the river at that point was stayed. The waters 
above suspended their course, while those below hastened into 
the Dead Sea, leaving the bed of the river dry for the hosts 
of Israel to pass over, The priests bearing the ark entered, 
and stood in the mid-channel, under the wall of waters, until 
all the hosts of Israel had gone over. Then the priests also 
left the river's bed ; and no sooner had they reached the bank, 
than the suspended waters resumed their course. As a stand- 
ing memorial of this stupendous miracle, twelve large stones 
from the bed of the river were set up in the plain ; and twelve 
stones from the shore were deposited in the bed of the river. 

6. At the place where the stones were set up, namely, at 
Gilgal in the plain of Jericho, the Israelites formed their first 
encampment in Canaan. Instead of proceeding to take 
advantage of the panic with which this event had inspired 
the inhabitants, as mere human policy would have dictated, 
by at once marching against them, the Israelites were directed 
to the observance of the details of that covenant under which 
they claimed their inheritance. Therefore, in the first place, 
the rite of circumcision, which had been intermitted during 
the sojourn in the wilderness, was renewed, and all the per- 
sons, forty years old and under, who had been born since the 
departure from Egypt, were taken into the Abrahamic cove- 
nant by being circumcised at Gilgal. They were then in a 
condition to observe the passover, the time for which had 
come round ; and this was the third celebration of that 
remarkable ordinance, as it had been entirely neglected since 
the second celebration in Sinai. The day after the passover 
they began to eat the corn, the fruits, and other products of 
the soil of Canaan ; and then the miraculous supply of manna, 
by which they had been so long fed, altogether ceased. It 
should be observed that the tabernacle was set up at Gilgal, 
and that it remained there during the seven years employed 



194 



JERICHO TAKEN AND DESTROYED. 



in the conquest of Canaan. Gilgal may, therefore, be regarded 
as the head-quarters of the Israelites throughout that period. 

7. When Joshua was one day surveying the strong defences 
of Jericho, a person with a drawn sword in his hand appeared 
suddenly before him. He announced himself as the " Captain 
of the Lord's host," and commanded Joshua to take the sandals 
off his feet, because the ground was holy on which he stood. 
The prostration and worship rendered by the Hebrew chief on 
this occasion indicates that this was the same mysterious 
being who had spoken to Moses from the burning bush. His 
object was to encourage Joshua, by directing his attention to 
the fact, that the success of the great enterprise before him 
depended not upon his own skill and valour, or upon the endur- 
ance and courage of his forces, but upon the assistance of the 
Almighty, who had covenanted to bestow the land upon them, 
and who would ensure the victory to his people in every con- 
test which they undertook with a becoming confidence in their 
Divine leader. To evince this, in the first instance, means 
were to be taken in the siege of Jericho which would be wholly 
inoperative under ordinary circumstances, and which would, 
therefore, refer the victory solely to that Almighty arm which 
was made bare to fight for the chosen people. Accordingly, the 
army was directed to march round the city in solemn state 
on six successive days, preceded by the ark, before which went 
seven priests with rams'-horn trumpets in their hands. This 
seemingly idle parade probably occasioned nothing but wonder 
to the people of Jericho, whom we may conceive crowding 
the walls to behold the spectacle. On the seventh day this 
circumambulation was repeated seven times, and at the com- 
pletion of the seventh circuit, the priests blew a long blast 
with their trumpets, and the people raised a tremendous shout. 
At that instant the strong walls of Jericho fell level with the 
ground, and free ingress was offered on every side to the 
Israelites, who, the place having before been put under a ban 
of devotement to utter ruin, slew every living creature with 
the sword, excepting only the family of the woman, Eahab, 
by whom the spies had been entertained. Josh. vi. 

8. Not only every living creature in Jericho had been 
devoted to extinction, but all the effects were to be destroyed, 
save articles of precious metal, which were to be consecrated 



ACHAN AND THE ACCURSED THING. 195 

to the Lord, and laid up for the service of the Tabernacle. 
But a man named Achan, of the tribe of Juclah, overcome by 
covetousness, appropriated to his own use, and concealed in his 
tent, a costly garment of Babylonish work, which should have 
been destroyed, and an ingot of gold, which should have been 
consecrated to the Lord. The disgraceful repulse and flight 
of a party which had been sent to take the neighbouring town 
of Ai, filled Joshua with anxiety and alarm, — such a circum- 
stance being likely to impair that confidence of assured success 
which had thus far encouraged the Israelites and disheartened 
their enemies. He complained before the Lord, and was 
answered that the repulse was a punishment for the infraction 
of the vow of devotement, by the concealment hi the camp of 
some of the spoil of Jericho. 

9. On hearing this, the lot was resorted to for the detection 
of the offender. Achan was taken, and having confessed the 
crime, was stoned to death, and a tumulus of stones was raised 
over his body. After this expurgation, Ai was hi another 
attempt easily taken by stratagem, in which one body, by a 
pretended flight, drew out the defenders in pursuit, on which, 
another body, which had lain in ambuscade, rushed into the 
town, and set it on fire. The pretended fugitives then turned 
upon their pursuers, who, being also attacked in the rear by 
the other body, and seeing their town in flames, were panic- 
struck, and easily cut in pieces. Twelve thousand, being the 
whole inhabitants, perished on this occasion ; and the king, 
who was taken prisoner, was put to the sword, and his body 
hanged on a tree until the evening, when it was taken down, 
and buried at the gate of the place under a heap of stones. 
This and many similar acts of the Israelites in their warfare 
with the Canaanites were undoubtedly severe and cruel ; but 
in those times all wars were carried on with great barbarity, 
as they still are in the countries of the East ; and the con- 
duct of the Hebrew invaders of Palestine was only in accord- 
ance with the war-practice of the time and country, and was 
not more harsh than would have been exercised towards 
themselves, had they been defeated and the Canaanites vic- 
torious. As the Lord was employing the sword of the 
Israelites for the extermination of a very guilty people, whose 
iniquities had at this time reached the highest point of aggra- 



196 



AI TAKEN BY STRATAGEM. 



vation, he did not direct that the invaders of Palestine should 
introduce any milder usages of war than those which then 
ordinarily prevailed. Josh. viii. 

10. There can be no doubt that the success of the Hebrew 
armies was much facilitated by the absence of any large or 
central government, or of any one power strong enough to act 
in opposition to the invaders. The country was still, as in 
the time of the Patriarchs, broken up into a vast number of 
small independent states, which differed even in the form of 
government, — some being monarchical, and others republican ; 
but the monarchical form was the most prevalent, and every 
chief over one or more towns, with a few dependent villages 
and a narrow tract of surrounding country, was dignified with 
the title of king. Among these kings there were a few who, 
from their proportionately larger territories, their success in 
war, or general character, had sufficient influence, on occasions 
of great and general emergency, to induce a number of the 
others to confederate with them for the common benefit ; but 
during the entire period of this war of life and death, no such 
confederacy was ever formed by the Canaanites, as brought 
all the military resources of the country to bear at one time 
against the Hebrew host. 



197 



OHAPTEE II. B. C. 1451 to 1426. 



Treaty with the Gibeonites . . . 1451 

Defeat of the Five Amorite Kings . 1451 

The 'solemnity at Ebal and Gerizim 1445 

The Tabernacle established at Shiloh 1445 

First Division of Lands .... 1445 

Second Division of Lands .... 1440 

Death of Joshua 1426 



EGYPT. 

Thothmes IV 1446 

Amunoph III. (Rathotis), the sup- 
posed Menmon of the vocal statue 1430 



1. The inhabitants of the land appear to have trusted very 
much to the obstacle which their fortified towns would offer 
to the progress of the Israelites ; but the capture of two such 
strong places as Jericho and Ai awoke them from this confi- 
dence, and shewed them the necessity of some decided course of 
action. Among the "kings" of that part of Palestine in 
which the invaders lay, five are named, who, headed by Ado- 
nizedek, king of Jerusalem, confederated together to resist 
them. Had the states in this quarter been disposed to make 
overtures of peace, or even of tribute, they would doubtless 
have been prevented by the knowledge that the Israelites 
were bent on dispossessing them altogether, and were under 
orders to enter into no treaties with them. The knowledge 
of this did not, however, hinder the inhabitants of Gibeon 
from attempting to obtain by stratagem what they knew would 
be refused to a direct application. Ambassadors were sent 
to the Hebrew camp at Gilgal, cunningly dressed up and dis- 
guised to appear as travel-worn men, whom the renown of 
the Lord's marvellous acts in behalf of Israel had drawn 
from a far country, to enter into engagements of friendship 
and peace with a people so highly favoured. Deceived by their 
appearance and by their professions, the Hebrews entered into 
the proposed engagements, without previously consulting their 
Divine King. For this neglect they were very soon punished 
by discovering how they had been outwitted ; and then they 
sought counsel of the Lord as to the binding nature of an obli- 
gation incurred under such circumstances. They were told 
that a covenant so solemnly contracted, must be held binding ; 
but that its terms did not prevent the Gibeonites being re- 



198 DEFEAT OF THE FIVE AMOEITE KINGS. 

ducecl to servitude. A tribute of labour, in hewing wood and 
drawing water, was therefore exacted from them. Josh. ix. 

2. The kings, whose confederacy we have just mentioned, 
were much troubled at the defection of the Gibeonites and 
at the alliance they had formed. Determined to punish them 
first, the five kings made their appearance in arms before 
Gibeon. The inhabitants in this extremity sent to claim the 
protection of J oshua, who immediately went, at the head of a 
strong force, to their assistance. A rapid march by night 
brought him unexpectedly upon the besiegers, who were 
routed with great slaughter ; those that fled were hotly pur- 
sued all the day. The fugitives were sorely distressed also 
by a shower of large stones, by which the Lord evinced that 
He fought for Israel ; and when, under the covering of ad- 
vancing night, many of them seemed likely to escape into the 
fortified towns, the light of day was prolonged at the request 
of Joshua, who, urged by the strong impulse of his faith, 
which taught him that even such a manifestation of the Divine 
power would not be refused, cried, " Sun, stand thou still 
upon Gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon." 
Being ignorant of the true system of astronomy, Joshua 
described what appeared to him and those who heard him to 
be the only means of producing the desired result. His man- 
date was obeyed ; the day was lengthened ; or, in the sense 
in which Joshua and the people understood it, " the sun stood 
still, and the moon stayed," until the desired objects had been 
secured. As the worship of the Canaanites and other idola- 
ters ultimately resolves itself into the worship of the heavenly 
bodies, of which the sun and moon are the chief, nothing 
could more strikingly evince the omnipotence of the God 
whom the Hebrews worshipped, than this proof, that the most 
glorious objects of the material world, of which men made to 
themselves gods, were but the creatures of his power. 

3. The five kings were found hid in a cave near Makke- 
dah, from which, when the pursuit was over, they were brought 
out, and the principal Hebrew officers set their feet upon their 
necks, which was a well-known act and symbol of victory in 
the East. They were then slain and hanged upon trees until 
the evening, as the king of Ai had been. At evening, as the 
law required (Dent. xx. 16, 17), they were taken down, and 



DEFEAT OF J A BIN, KING OF HAZOR. 



199 



their bodies were returned to the cave which had been their 
refuge. With his usual military skill, Joshua took advantage 
of the panic which his signal success and the attendant miracles 
had on this occasion inspired, and overran and reduced the 
greater part of the country from Gibeon southward to the 
desert frontier, including the cities of Makkedah, Libnah, 
Lachish, Eglon, Debir, and Hebron. The attack on Debir 
was commanded by Caleb, who, according to a romantic- 
oriental usage, announced that he would give his daughter 
Achsah in marriage to the man who should first enter the 
town, or most distinguish himself in the assault. The prize 
of gallantry was won by Othniel, Caleb's own nephew, whom 
we shall hereafter recognise as the first u Judge" in Israel. 
After all these victories Joshua led back his army to Gilgal. 

4. The success of this campaign gave great alarm to the 
princes of the north, who united in a very powerful league, 
headed by Jabin, king of Hazor. The allies took the field 
with such a vast force as seemed fully equal to the task of 
crushing the invaders by one stroke. Their army compre- 
hended a proportion 
of horses and chariots 
of war : — and this is 
the first occasion on 
which horses are men- 
tioned in Palestine, 
and the first time that 
they were brought in- 
to action against the 
Israelites, who them- 
selves had no cavalry 
till long after. In dealing with this very formidable host, the 
Hebrew general followed his usual course : he penetrated into 
Upper Galilee by rapid marches, and falling upon the enemy 
when least expected, defeated them with tremendous slaughter. 
This great loss so broke the power and spirits of the Canaan- 
ites, that, while Joshua lived, no other powerful combination 
could be formed against the Israelites, who occupied themselves 
in reducing in detail the petty kings and cities of the country. 
In the course of five years, thirty-one of these little states 
were subdued. This was the period of merciless and exter- 




110. Persian Chariot. 



200 



FIRST DIVISION OF LANDS. 



ruinating warfare, to avoid the horrors of which, it appears 
that some of these nations emigrated to foreign lands ; and 
there are traditions which might lead us to trace some of them 
to the northern shores of Africa. The towns which the Israe- 
lites were unable to occupy or defend, they destroyed. These 
were chiefly such as were situated in the plains ; for of those 
that stood on hills Hazor only was destroyed. 

5. At the end of five years, Joshua had reduced the 
greater part of the country from the mountains of Seir to 
those of Lebanon. The portion lying to the south of the 
great plain of Esdraelon was the most completely subjugated ; 
and it seemed proper to determine without farther delay to 
what tribes that portion should belong. The southern part 
of this territory was given to Judah, and the northern part to 
Ephraim, and the unprovided half tribe of Manasseh. Thus 
five tribes were provided for ; two-and-a-half on each side of 




111. Mounts Ebal and Gerizim. 



the river Jordan. This first distribution of territory seemed 
a suitable occasion for the removal of the tabernacle from 
Gilgal to the interior of the conquered country. Shiloh, in 



THE SOLEMNITY AT EBAL AND GERIZIM. 201 

the territory of Ephraim, and near the centre of the land, 
was the place chosen ; and there it continued above 450 
years, until the time of Samuel. It appears to have been on 
the way to this place that the Israelites, in passing by the 
mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, went through the august and 
striking ceremonial which Moses had long before directed to 
be celebrated in that place, and whereby he had wisely pro- 
vided that the assembled people should, on taking possession 
of their inheritance, once more solemnly declare their accep- 
tance of the institutions which had been given to them (Deut. 
xxvii.) The fundamental laws were inscribed on plastered 
pillars, and sacrifices were offered on a large altar of unhewn 
stone. Then, six of the tribes stood on Mount Ebal, and the 
other six tribes on Mount Gerizim ; while the ark with the 
priests and Levites was stationed in the valley between. In 
that vast audience, the loud voices of the Levites proclaimed 
blessings on the obedient, and curses on the disobedient to 
the law ; and each clause of blessing and of curse was met by 
a grand responsive " Amen ! " from the thousands of Israel — 
for the blessings from Gerizim, and for the curses from Ebal. 

6. The five or six following years were consumed in a 
desultory warfare with the unconquered states. It would 
appear that the existing population did not yet need all the 
country, and found enough to occupy them in what they had 
already acquired. At all events, the first ardour of action 
had so much subsided, that at length Joshua rebuked the 
tribes for their backwardness in taking full possession of their 
heritage. Anxious, however, that the territorial distribution 
should be settled before his death, he determined that all that 
remained to be done with regard to such a distribution should 
be at once effected, leaving the tribes to assist one another in 
getting complete possession of the domains which fell to them. 
As it appeared probable that the portions already given were 
too large in proportion to the whole, it was deemed necessary 
that properly qualified persons should be sent through the 
land to survey it, and to enter the particulars in a book. It 
is not improbable that some kind of map was constructed on 
this occasion ; and, altogether, the circumstance is interesting 
as indicating the earliest territorial survey on record. 

7. The result of this operation manifested that too much 



202 THE TWO AND HALF TRIBES DISMISSED. 

land had been given at the previous distribution, and that the 
seven remaining tribes could not be adequately provided for 
out of what remained ; and room was therefore made for two 
other tribes in the portion which had been assigned to Judah, 
and for one in that which had been given to Ephraim. To 
prevent disputes, the seven portions were distributed by lot t< > 
the seven tribes ; and that the determinations of the lot were 
divinely directed was evinced by the fact, that the position 
and territory given to each of the tribes corresponded exactly 
to the prophetic descriptions given by Jacob and by Moses. 
The lot gave to Simeon and Dan the two portions which had 
been formed out of the territory of Judah, and to Benjamin 
that which had been taken from Ephraim. The four portions 
in the north, forming what was afterwards called Galilee, 
were assigned by the lot to Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, and 
Naphtali. The tribe of Levi had no territory assigned to it ; 
but each of the tribes gave four towns with their suburbs for 
the residence of the Levites, whereby the members of that 
tribe were equally and judiciously dispersed through the 
country ; and, although there was but one tabernacle and one 
altar, a determinate localization, in every tribe, was made of 
the institutions and officers of the Divine King. Of the 
forty-eight cities given to the tribe of Levi, thirteen were 
allotted to the priesthood, all in the tribes of Judah and 
Benjamin. Six of the forty- eight, at proper distances from 
each other, Mere made cities of refuge for the man- slayer. 
These were, on the west of the Jordan, Hebron in Judah. 
Shechem in Ephraim, and Kedesh in Naphtali ; and on the 
east, Bezer in the wilderness, Eamoth in Gilead, and Golan 
in Bashan. 

8. This important operation having been completed under 
the direction of Joshua and Eleazer, the high-priest, it seemed 
proper to dismiss to then homes the warriors of the tribes 
beyond the Jordan, who, according to agreement, had hitherto 
accompanied the other tribes, and assisted them in their war- 
fare. Joshua, therefore, called them together, and, after 
acknowledging their services, and exhorting them to maintain 
their allegiance to the Divine King, and their union with the 
other tribes, sent them away with his blessing. The return- 
ing tribes having crossed the Jordan, erected, at the passage 



ERECTION OF A SECOND ALTAR. 



203 



of Bethabara, a great altar, which threatened to produce a 
serious misunderstanding between them and the tribes on this 
side the river. The law allowed but one altar for sacri- 
fices ; and it was hastily concluded that the trans-Jordanic 
tribes designed to destroy the unity of the nation, by setting 
up a separate altar and a separate establishment on their side 
the river. This apprehension so awakened the indignation 
and zeal of the other tribes, that they assembled hi large 
numbers at Shiloh, bent on making war with their brethren, 
unless a satisfactory explanation were afforded. Delegates 
were sent to remonstrate with them, and to invite them to 
come and share the country west of the Jordan, if they deemed 
that river so great a barrier as to disconnect them from the 
central altar and establishment at Shiloh. The charge 
was, however, repelled with horror by the suspected tribes, 
who explained that the altar was not intended by them for 
sacrifices, but for an abiding monument of their common origin, 
interest, polity, and worship — of that very unity which they 
were charged with an intention to dissever. This statement 
was received with great satisfaction, and the name of Ed, " a 
Witness," was given to the altar of memorial. 

9. Joshua appears to have lived about fourteen years after 
the second division of the lands. During this period, the 
people ceased to prosecute the war against the Canaanites. 
It would seem that the several tribes having as much land 
and as many towns as they at present wanted, applied them- 
selves to agriculture and the pursuits of settled life, and each 
tribe became too much engrossed in its own concerns to assist 
the others in getting full possession of their territory. It was 
well that they took so early and decided a turn towards their 
intended vocation as an agricultural people, and that the old 
inhabitants were not too rapidly expelled before the Hebrews 
were able to take their place and to occupy their cities ; but 
it was dangerous to them as the . peculiar people, that they 
were in a position to form connections with the idolaters, and 
to be contaminated by their abominations. There was also 
reason to fear that the Canaanites, by being left alone, would 
in time gather strength again to make head against the chosen 
race. All this happened accordingly, but not in the time of 
Joshua. 



204 



DEATH OF JOSHUA. 



10. Although the old patriarchal idolatries and those of 
Egypt were secretly practised by some individuals, yet the 
people were, upon the whole, obedient to the Divine King, 
and therefore prosperous, during the life of Joshua. To con- 
firm them in their obedience, Joshua, in his latter days, 
convened two general assemblies, in which he earnestly 
exhorted them to be faithful to Grod ; and on the last occasion 
he caused the covenant, by which the Lord had become their 
sovereign, to be solemnly acknowledged and renewed. As a 
standing memorial of this transaction, a stone was set up 
under a tree that grew near the sanctuary, and a record of 
it was made in the Book of the Law. Soon after this, the 
illustrious warrior and devoted upholder of the theocratical 
institutions, died at the age of 110 years. 




205 



CHAPTER III. B.C. 1426 to 1285. 



PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

Othniel delivers Israel 1405 

Ehud 1323 

Shamsrar 1305 

Deborah and Barak . 1285 



EGYPT. 

B.C. 

Amun-men . . . 1408 

liemeses 1 1395 

Osirei I. (Amiais) . 1385 
Remeses II. (MiaoniD) 

or the Great . . 1355 
Pthahmen Tlnneioi'tep? 

(Anienophisj . . 1289 



EVENTS AND TEBSONS. 

B. C. 

Musaeus the Poet. Mi- 
nos, King of Crete 1406 

Eleusinian Mysteries 
introduced at Athens 1356 

The Isthmian Games 
instituted . . . 1326 

Orpheus the Poet. 



1. We now enter upon the time of the Judges, a period 
of 331 years (1426 to 1095 B. C), during which we shall 
find the Hebrew nation afflicted or prosperous, in proportion 
to their neglect or observance of the conditions of their cove- 
nant with their Divine King. When they turned from God, 
and worshipped idols, He humbled them before their enemies, 
by whom they were subjected to the yoke of bondage; and 
when at length, in their misery, they repented and turned to 
God, he sent them deliverers, named " Judges," under whom 
they continued prosperous, until they sinned again, when they 
were again punished. 

2. During the generation which had taken the covenant 
under Joshua, idolatry, although it had never been wholly 
eradicated, was never allowed to predominate in the nation. 
Soon, however, the idols of Canaan began to receive that 
homage which had formerly been given to those of Mesopo- 
tamia and Egypt. This increasing tendency to idolatry arose 
from the continued remissness of the Israelites in their con- 
duct towards the Canaanites. Only a few tribes made war 
upon them, and these soon grew weary of the contest. In 
most cases where they had the ascendency, they were content 
to hold the Canaanites under tribute, although this had been 
forbidden by an express law; and their intercourse becoming 
gradually more intimate, they engaged in affairs of commerce, 
and intermarried with the native inhabitants. 

3. Joshua has been blamed by some for not asking per- 
mission to appoint a successor in the government: but his 



206 GOVERNMENT AFTER JOSHUA'S DEATH. 

office was one in which no successor was needed. He was a 
military commander, not a civil governor. The Lord himself, 
enthroned in the Tabernacle, was the political and civil, as 
well as the religious, head of the nation; and there were esta- 
blished means of obtaining the commands of the Divine King 
on all questions that could arise, through the instrumentality 
of his chief minister, the high-priest. In those days the 
functions of general government were so simple that this 
theocratical institution contained every element of stability 
and safety, had its principles and advantages been properly 
understood by the people. The administration of justice 
among them had been well provided for; the business of 
public instruction was in the hands of the Levites, in their 
several cities; and the internal concerns of the several tribes 
were sufficiently cared for by their own patriarchal or family 
chiefs and elders. 

4. The only military operations of any note shortly after 
the death of J oshua, consisted in the endeavours of the tribe 
of Judah, assisted by Simeon, to get full possession of its 
territory. In this it seems to have succeeded generally; but 
it was unable to expel the Jebusites from the strong fortress 
which formed the upper town of Jerusalem. In one action 
against Adoni-bezek, in Bezek, ten thousand Canaanites were 
slain, and the king was taken prisoner. His thumbs and 
great toes were cut off, in retribution for the manner in which 
he had been wont to treat his own captives; for he himself 
declared that seventy kings, whose thumbs and great toes he 
had cut off, gathered their bread under his table. 

5. The high-priest Eleazer did not long outlive Joshua, 
and he was succeeded by his son Phinehas. Early in his 
administration, " the angel of the Lord," who had appeared 
to Joshua at Grilgal, again appeared to the people when 
assembled before the tabernacle at Shiloh, and, having 
solemnly reprehended their conduct with regard to the 
Canaanites, threatened no longer to vouchsafe Almighty 
power for their expulsion, but to leave the remainder of the 
Canaanites for a test and trial of their faithfulness. This 
authoritative rebuke produced some effect, and moved them 
to such cries and tears as caused the place to be called 
Bochim [weepers . 



OTHNIEL DELIVERS ISRAEL. 



207 



6. But the impression produced was of short duration. 
The last five chapters of the book of Judges relate events 
which belong to the time of Phinehas, and give a melancholy 
view of the moral condition of the nation at this period. The 
tribe of Dan being pressed for room in its southern allotment, 
and being unable to get possession of the portions of territory 
which were successfully defended by the Canaanites, sent out 
a portion of its members to seek for a situation where they 
might more easily form a settlement. This they found near 
the source of the Jordan, where they took the town of Leshem 
or Laish from the inhabitants, who w T ere living in security, 
and changed its name to Dan, — under which name it is often 
celebrated as the most northerly town of Palestine in the 
popular phrase, "from Dan (in the north) to Beersheba (in 
the south)," which described the whole length of the land. 
On this occasion a modified system of idolatry was introduced 
into this tribe. The depravity of the inhabitants of the Ben- 
jamite city of Gibeah, and the grievous maltreatment of a 
Levite and his wife, roused the other tribes to warlike opera- 
tions, on the refusal of the Benjamites to give up the offenders. 
This infatuated tribe had some success in the first and second 
actions ; but in a third, their reverse was so complete, and the 
ensuing carnage so dreadful, that the tribe was nearly exter- 
minated, and never wholly recovered the blow, but ever after 
remained the smallest tribe in Israel. 

7. To punish the disorders, which these circumstances 
illustrate rather than describe, the Lord in his anger brought 
the nation into subjection to a distant and unexpected enemy, 
Chushan Rishathaim, a king from beyond the Euphrates, who 
kept the Israelites under severe tributary bondage for eight 
years. At the end of that time they turned to the Divine 
King against whom they had so grievously revolted ; and he 
moved Othniel, the nephew of Caleb, to act for their deliverance. 
After some desultory warfare, a general action was fought, 
in which the complete victory of the Israelites effected their 
deliverance from the Mesopotamian yoke. After this, Oth- 
niel, as "judge " or regent for the Divine King, directed the 
foreign and military policy of southern Israel for forty years, 
during which time the people continued true to their allegi- 
ance, and dwelt in peace. 



208 



SHAMGAK. 



8. On his death, the Israelites again returned to their 
idolatrous practices, and were punished by their jealous neigh- 
bours and relatives, the Moabites, who, rinding the chosen 
people not invincible, ventured a battle, and, being victorious, 
reduced to subjection the tribes beyond Jordan, and, at length, 
also the southern tribes on this side the river. Eglon, the 
king, then fixed his residence at Jericho, as the best means 
of establishing his power, by controlling the communications 
of the tribes which the river separated. The Hebrews were 
kept under tribute for eighteen years; at the expiration of 
which, one of the tribute-bearers, Ehud of Benjamin, secretly 
slew the king, whose death struck the Moabites with such con- 
sternation, that the Israelites were enabled, under the con- 
duct of Ehud, to shake off their yoke. This man's deed 
was murder ; but in the East, such acts are considered as 
sanctioned by public objects and successful results. 

9. The victory over the Moabites was followed by a re- 
pose of eighty years, at the end of which the Philistines first 
invaded the land of Judah. But their force was encountered 
by a body of husbandmen, under the conduct of Shamgar, 
who, although armed only with the instruments which they 
employed in goading their oxen,* repelled them with great 
slaughter. If Shamgar, in consequence of this victory, be- 
came judge in southern Israel, it does not appear that he lived 
long to enjoy that honour. 

10. In the 200 years which had elapsed since their dis- 
comfiture by Joshua, the northern Canaanites had gradually 
recovered such power as enabled them to form another con- 
federacy against the Israelites, headed by Jabin, king of 
Hazor. He had at his disposal a large army, comprehending 
900 iron-armed chariots of war, which the Israelites regarded 
with peculiar dread. With such a force, commanded by 
Sisera, one of the ablest generals of that age, he grievously 
oppressed the northern tribes for twenty years ; and his yoke 
appears to have been more intolerable than any which they had 
previously sustained. At the end of that time, Deborah, a 
prophetess of Mount Ephraim, was moved by a Divine im- 

* These ox-goa-ds, which are still used in the East, were good substitutes for spears. 
They are often eight feet long, armed at one end with a sharp point, for goading the oxen, 
and at the other with a kind of spade or paddle for clearing the plough of clay, &c. 



DEBORAH AND BARAK. 



209 



pulse to exhort Barak, of the tribe of FaphtaH, to undertake 
the deliverance of the afflicted tribes. With some reluctance 
he accepted the call, on condition that she went with him. 
He assembled 10,000 men, near Mount Tabor, with whom, 
confiding in God, he gave battle to the numerous hosts of 
Jabin in the plain of Esdraelon. The Canaanites were com- 
pletely routed ; and a sudden inundation of the river Kishon 
swept away great numbers of the fugitives. Sisera found re- 
fuge in the tent of a pastoral chief, a Kenite, named Heber, 
whose wife Jael offered him hospitality and protection ; but 
while he slept, she treacherously slew him, by driving a tent- 
pin through his temples, and nailing his head to the ground. 
This great victory was celebrated by Deborah in a song of 
thanksgiving, abounding in the richest ornaments of sacred 
oriental poetry. Judges iv. 5. 



k2 



210 



CHAPTER IV. B. C. 1285 to 1157. 



PALESTINE. 

Gideon 1242 

Abirnclech .... 1236 

Tola 1232 

Jair 1210 

Jephthah .... 1198 

Ibzan 1182 

Eton 1176 

Abdou 1165 

Eli 1157 



EGYPT. 

B.C. 

Pthah-men-Septhah 

(Setlios) .... 1269 
Osirei II. (Itampses) . 1255 
Amenophthis . . . 1245 
Remeses III. . . . 1235 
Remeses IV. (A.mme- 

nemes) . . . .1205 
lleraeses V. (Thuoris) 1195 
Remeses VI. . . . 1180 
Remeses VII. . . . 1170 



EVENTS AND PERSONS. 

B. C. 

The Argonautic Expe- 
dition 1263 

The Pythian Games in- 
stituted .... 1263 

The rape of Helen by 
Paris 1198 

Troy taken by the 
Greeks .... 1184 



1 . The defeat of Sisera was followed by a repose of forty 
years. At the end of that time the Midianites, Amalekites, 
and other nomad tribes, began to invade Palestine in great 
numbers, treading down the cultivated lands under the feet 
of their numerous herds, seizing the fruits of the ground, 
taking away the cattle, plundering men and houses, and, 
in short, ravaging the country as the Bedouin Arabs are wont 
to do at the present time, when there is no power sufficient 
to restrain them. Like them also, the Midianites withdrew 
on the approach of winter, and returned in the early summer 
to gather that which the Israelites had sown, and for which 
they had laboured. This oppression continued for seven 
years, and became so grievous, that many of the people sought 
refuge in the dens and caves of the wilderness ; and it is per- 
haps to this period that we should refer the migration to the 
land of Moab of that Elimelech, the touching history of whose 
widow and daughter-in-law forms the beautiful episode con- 
tained in the book of Ruth. 

2. In their deep trouble, the Israelites at length cried to 
the God who had so often delivered them in time past. A 
prophet was then sent to rebuke their ingratitude ; but also 
to promise deliverance. Accordingly, as Gideon, a man of 
the tribe of Manasseh, was secretly threshing wheat in a 
winepress, to hide it from the Midianites, an angel of God 
appeared to him, and commissioned him to undertake the 
deliverance of his country. Gideon first sought to decline so 



GIDEON DELIVERS ISRAEL. 



211 



high a trust, and then requested a token that the commission 
was indeed from heaven. His request was granted; for, at 
the touch of the angel's staff, fire broke forth and consumed, 
as a sacrifice, the kid and the bread which Gideon had set 
before his visitant, who disappeared, and left him " filled with 
the Spirit of God," — a spirit of faith and fortitude, equal to 
the great enterprise which lay before him. In answer to his 
prayer, another sign was given to Gideon; — a fleece which he 
spread out upon the open threshing-floor became wet with 
dew, while the ground was dry; and again, the fleece alone 
was dry, while the soil was wet all around. 

3. Now strong in faith, Gideon overthrew the altar which 
his father had erected to Baal, and cut down the trees of the 
" sacred" grove which he had planted around it. Then pro- 
ceeding into the country, he blew the trumpet of war, when 
32,000 men gathered to his standard. But the Lord know- 
ing the unbelief and distrust that prevailed among them, 
directed Gideon to proclaim that all who were fearful and 
faint-hearted might withdraw. Availing themselves of this 
permission, 22,000 took their departure, so that only 10,000 
were left. Even these were too many for the Lord's purpose, 
which required that the means employed should be so evi- 
dently inadequate, that the glory of the deliverance might be 
entirely his own. Gideon was therefore directed to lead his 
thirsty troops to the river, and permit them to drink. The 
greater part bent down to the surface of the water, to imbil >t 
large draughts at ease and leisure ; but a few lapped up the 
water in the hollow of their hands, as men in haste. Those 
who stooped down to drink were ordered by Gideon to retire 
to their homes; and by the remainder, who were only 300 in 
number, the deliverance of Israel was promised. The host 
which this handful of men had to encounter, lay encamped li- 
the plain of Esdraelon. Encouraged by ascertaining, in a 
night-visit to their camp, that the Midianites were, already 
dispirited, and might easily be struck with a panic, the 
Hebrew commander instructed his men to provide themselves 
with earthen pitchers, and to place in each pitcher a lighted 
lamp. The pitcher containing the lamp in one hand, and a 
trumpet in the other, formed the weapons of their warfare. 
The 300 men, in three bauds of 100 each, approached the 



212 



GIDEON DELIVERS ISRAEL. 



sleeping host of Midian, in silence and by night, on different 
sides. At a given signal, they simultaneously broke their 
earthen vessels, displayed their lamps, and blew a loud blast 
with their trumpets. The tremendous noise by which the 
Midianites were awakened, and the numerous lights all 
around, conveyed to their confused senses the notion that they 
were surrounded by a mighty host; and, in the darkness, 
every one taking his neighbour for an enemy, they slew each 
other by thousands. One hundred and twenty thousand men 
were left dead upon the field of battle, and only 15,000 saved 
themselves by flight. The Israelites who shrunk from the 
war joined in the pursuit, and hasted to share the spoil. 
Gideon displayed the talents of one fit to govern men, by the 
tact with which he soothed the jealous pride of the Ephraim- 
ites, who complained that they had not been called into 
action, and by the spirit with which he punished the men of 
Succoth and Penuel, who had refused refreshment to his 
men, and had derided his enterprise. 

4. In the height of their admiration and gratitude, the 
people offered, to make Gideon king, and to entail the crown 
upon his race. But he was too well acquainted with the pecu- 
liar nature of the go- 
vernment under which 
they had been placed 
by Gocl, to listen to a 
proposal like this. He 
therefore replied, "Not 
I, nor my son, but Je- 
hovah shall reign over 
you." But this great 
man was not equally 
alive to the religious 
obligations of the cove- 
nant ; for with the pro- 
duce of the golden ear- 
rings taken from the 
Midianites, which were 
willingly given to him 

by the army, he made an epnoci, or priest's dress, and ap- 
pears to have formed a sacerdotal establishment in his own 




ABLMELECH PROCLAIMED KING. 



213 



town, where sacrifices might be regularly offered. However 
well intended, this was a gross interference with the Tabernacle 
establishment at Shiloh, and in the end proved a snare to 
Gideon's own family, and an occasion for idolatry to the 
nation. Judges viii. 

5. Gideon lived forty years after this great victory ; and 
in his time the peace of Israel does not seem to have been 
again seriously disturbed. The parable of Jotham seems to 
intimate, that after, or perhaps even before, his death, the 
offer of the crown had been repeated to his sons, of whom he 
had, by his several wives, seventy that were legitimate. But 
they having nobly refused the tempting offer, his spurious 
son Abimelech succeeded in persuading the people of Shechem 
to proclaim him king, and to put to death all the other sons 
of Gideon. Only Jotham, the youngest, escaped; who after- 
wards from Mount Gerizim administered a cutting rebuke to 
the Shechemites, in the oldest and most beautiful apologue of 
antiquity, which represents the bramble as accepting that 
sovereignty over the trees which had successively been de- 
clined by the olive-tree, the fig-tree, and the vine. Three 
years sufficed to disgust the Shechemites with the king they 
had set up. They revolted, in consequence of which their 
city was utterly destroyed by Abimelech, who then pro- 
ceeded to reduce another revolted town, Thebez, where he 
was killed by a stone thrown down upon him by a woman. 
Judges ix. 

6. The enemies from whom Tola, of the tribe of Issachar, 
defended Israel are not named; and of Jair, the Gileadite, we 
only know that his thirty sons rode on white asses, as chiefs 
of thirty small towns or villages in Gilead, which belonged to 
their opulent family. The administration of Tola lasted 
twenty-three years, and that of Jair twenty-two. 

7. After this, the Israelites fell into gross idolatry, in 
punishment for which their enemies were allowed to oppress 
them greatly. The Ammonites laid claim to a part of the 
land beyond Jordan which had been wrested from them by 
the Amorites, from whom it was conquered by Moses. For 
eighteen years they greatly distressed the two and half tribes 
beyond Jordan, and likewise made incursions into Benjamin, 
Judah, and Ephraim, who had at the same time to defend 



214 



JEPHTHAH DELIVERS ISRAEL. 



themselves against the Philistines. In these troubles they 
cried to God, whom they had so grievously insulted ; and as 
they gave signs of true repentance, he delayed not to send 
them deliverance. 

8. Jephthah, the deliverer raised up on this occasion, was 
an illegitimate son, by "a strange woman," of one Gilead, a 
person of some note in Manasseh, beyond Jordan. He had 
no claim to share with his brethren in their patrimony ; and, 
on the death of their father, was excluded with some harsh- 
ness from the paternal home, and became a wanderer and 
exile. A number of men of like broken fortune and unsettled 
dispositions, joined themselves to him, and they lived upon the 
prey which they acquired by harassing the Ammonites and 
other enemies of Israel. In this kind of predatory warfare, 
they became skilful, hardy, and bold ; and the name of Jeph- 
thah was celebrated beyond Jordan as that of a valiant and 
successful leader. When, therefore, the tribes were encouraged 
to hope for deliverance, their eyes turned to him, and a depu- 
tation was sent to invite him to take the command in the war 
against the Ammonites. After some demur, he accepted the 
invitation, and repaired to Mizpeh of Gilead, where his ap- 
pointment was solemnly ratified. His first act was to send 
an embassy to demand of the Ammonites why they invaded 
the territories of Israel. In reply, they advanced the claim 
of prior occupation, which has been mentioned ; to which 
Jephthah answered, that whoever were the prior occupants, 
the country belonged to Israel by right of conquest from the 
Amorites. Jephthah then went forth to the war, but in de- 
parting, rashly vowed to devote in sacrifice to God whatever 
came forth to meet him on his return triumphant. In the 
issue the Ammonites were defeated with great slaughter, and 
completely subdued. 

9. Jephthah had only one child, a virgin daughter, beauti- 
ful and young ; and she it was who, on his return to Mizpeh, 
came forth, at the head of the maidens, to greet him with 
timbrels and dances. The warrior remembered then the irre- 
versible vow which he had taken, and rent his clothes in the 
anguish of his soul. When apprised of her doom, the heroic 
daughter encouraged her father to fulfil his vow ; but whether 
he did this by shedding her blood in sacrifice, or by devoting 



DEATH OF JEPHTHAH. 



215 



lier to a secluded and solitary life, is a point not well deter- 
mined, and on which different opinions are entertained. 

10. The Ephrahnites, envying the splendid success of 
their brethren in this campaign, and the valuable booty which 
they had gained, stirred up a civil war, which terminated very 
disastrously for them, for they were defeated with the loss of 
42,000 men. Jephthah died, after an administration of six 
years. 

11. The Judges — Ibzan of Bethlehem, who governed 
>even years ; Elon of Zebulon, ten years ; and Abdon of 
Ephraim, eight years ; in all, twenty-five years — appear to 
have maintained peace. But during this time the Israelites 
again relapsed into gross idolatry, and drew on themselves a 
rigorous bondage to their western foes the Philistines, who 
had by this time become a powerful people. This servitude 
lasted forty years ; during which, whatever general govern- 
ment existed, appears to have been exercised by Eli the high- 
priest (B. C. 1157 . 



216 



CHAPTEE V. B. C. 1155 to 1117. 



PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

Samson born . 1155 

Samson's exploits from . . 1137 to 1117 
Samson's death 1117 I 



EGYPT. 

B. C. 

Remeses VIII 1155 

Remeses IX 1140 

I Remeses X 1125 



1. Samson was the next deliverer, or rather avenger — 
for, as his countrymen were become too weak and too spirit- 
less to second his efforts, he was only able to " begin to deliver 
Israel," and to molest the Philistines in transient and desul- 
tory attacks. Samson was a very extraordinary man in 
bodily endowments, indomitable courage, and tremendous 
strength ; but he was very feeble in his moral and intellectual 
character. His parents were of the tribe of Dan. An angel 
announced his birth and declared his vocation to his mother ; 
and directed that the abstinence and unshorn hair of a Naza- 
rite should distinguish him from his birth. These were to be 
the signs of the covenant by which he held his gigantic 
powers, and on which their continuance was to depend. 

2. In early manhood, Samson became enamoured of a 
damsel of the Philistine town of Timnath, and persuaded his 
parents to go and ask her in marriage for him. On the way, 
he encountered a lion, and without weapons, tore it asimder 
as if it had been a kid ; but he did not deem the exploit 
worth relating, even to his parents. The offer of marriage 
was accepted ; and after a while, Samson again went to Tim- 
nath, to celebrate the nuptials and bring home the bride. On 
the way, he turned aside to see what had become of the lion ; 
and he found a swarm of bees in the dried frame-work of skin 
and bones which was left, after jackals (probably) had de- 
voured the flesh. This furnished the subject of the riddle 
which, according to the custom of these times, he proposed to 
the guests at the marriage-feast — " Out of the eater came 
forth meat, and out of the fierce came forth sweetness." Not 
being able to solve the riddle, the guests secretly induced 
Samson's wife, by threats, to extract the secret from him and 



SAMSON S EXPLOITS. 



217 



reveal it to them. Indignant at his wife for betraying his 
secret, and at the guests for tampering with her, Samson left 
her and went home, after he had slain thirty Philistines of 
Askelon, and given their garments, as his forfeit, to the guests. 

3. After his anger had subsided, he went to visit his wife, 
with a present of a kid ; but he found her married to his 
friend, who had been his bridesman at the wedding. On this 
and other occasions, he allowed his private wrongs to stimu- 
late him to the exercise of his vindictive mission, which other- 
wise he appears to have been much disposed to neglect. Fired 
by the present insult, he vowed and took severe revenge. 
Collecting three hundred foxes, he tied them together by the 
tails, in pairs ; and then 
putting a firebrand be- 
tween every pair, he turned 
them into the standing corn 
of the Philistines, which 
was burnt with fire, along 
with the shocks of corn, 
and the vineyards and 
olive-grounds. The Phili- 
stines laid the blame upon Samson's wife and her father, and 
came and burnt them both with fire ; but this cruel action was 
soon after punished by Samson with so great a slaughter, that 
he deemed it prudent to withdraw to the top of the almost in- 
accessible rock Etam in the tribe of Judah. Determined to 
secure so implacable an enemy, the Philistines went in great 
force against him; but beingunable to reach him in this position, 
they required the Judahites to yield him up. More disposed 
to dread the consequences of Samson's feats than to glory in 
them, three thousand men of Judah went to seize their hero, 
and deliver him up in bonds to the Philistines. He did not 
resist ; and when the enemies and masters of Israel beheld 
their redoubted foe brought to them as a captive, they raised 
an exulting shout : but at that moment Samson burst asunder 
the new ropes with which he was bound, as if they had been 
burnt tow, and seizing the jaw-bone of an ass that lay near, 
he fell upon the Philistines, and routed them with the slaughter 
of a thousand. After this feat, which he very properly felt 
to be " a great deliverance which God had given to him," 




113. Syrian Fox. 



218 



SAMSON AT GAZA. 



Samson, ready to perish with intense thirst, called npon God 
for relief; and immediately water rose from a hollow place 
close by, which ever after remained a perennial spring. 

4. We next find this very strong yet erring man in the 
house of a harlot, in the Philistine city of Gaza. When his 
arrival was known, the gates of the city were shut, and a 
guard set, to prevent his escape. But he arose in the night, 
and not only burst open, but rent away the gates, carried 
them off, posts and all, upon his shoulders, and left them 
npon a hill on the road to Hebron. 

5. Another harlot, named Delilah, dwelling in the vale 
of Sorek, proved his ruin. Tempted by the rich bribes of the 
Philistine lords, Delilah endeavoured to extract from Samson 
the secret of his strength, for it was known that it was in 
something more than bones and sinews that he differed from 
other men. After some attempts to amuse her, Samson, tired 
by her importunities, at length told her that his strength lay 
in his hair, as the sign of his devotement, and of the covenant 
by which he held his powers. While he slept upon her lap, 
she made the seven locks of his hair be cut off ; and instantly 
the covenant with God being broken, the strength of Samson 
departed from him, and he became weak as other men. The 
Philistines took him without difficulty, put out his eyes, and 
carried him to Gaza, where he was bound with fetters of brass, 
and put to a slave's labour in the prison-house. Blind and 
in prison, Samson had leisure to repent that he had trifled so 
lightly with the gift of God ; and with his repentance and 
the growth of his hair, it pleased God to renew his strength. 
At this time the Philistines held a high day of festival and 
thanksgiving, to praise their God Dagon for having delivered 
their greatest enemy into their hands; and Samson himself 
was brought from the prison, that the assembled people might 
behold their wretched victim, triumph in his misery, and 
make sport of his blindness. Wearied at length, the fallen 
champion applied to the lad who led him by the hand, to let 
him lean for rest upon the two pillars which chiefly supported 
the roof of the building, upon which three thousand people 
were at that time assembled to see the spectacle and celebrate 
the feast. Their impious rejoicing in their idol was so dis- 
pleasing to God, that he granted the prayer of Samson, and 



SAMSON S DEATH. 



219 



endued hini with such strength, that when, embracing the 
pillars, he bowed himself with all his might, they yielded to 
the vast force, and broke ; whereon the roof, with the mass of 
people upon it, fell in, and buried in the ruins Samson and 
the multitude below. At his death, Samson slew a greater 
number of the Philistines than he had done during his life. 
Judges, xvi. 4-31. 

6. The precise effect of this event upon the relative posi- 
tion of the Israelites and the Philistines does not appear. 
But a blow which struck down the flower of the Philistine 
nation was not likely to be inoperative ; and it may be infer- 
red from subsequent circumstances, that the Philistines were 
too much discouraged to maintain their hold upon the Hebrew 
nation. 



220 



CHAPTEK VI. 



PALESTINE. 

B.C. 

Samuel born . . . 1149 
Samuel called to be a 

Prophet .... 1137 
Commencement of 20 
years' servitude to the 
Philistines . . . 1127 
Convention at Mizpeh, 

and Samuel Judge 1107 
Defeat of the Philistines 1107 
End of Samuel's (12 
years) separate admi- 
nistration .... 1095 

1. As Samson does not appear to have exercised any 
authority, civil or military, even in the southern portion of 
Palestine adjoining the Philistine territory to which his 
operations were confined, he might be described as a scourge 
of the Philistines rather than a Judge of Israel. Without 
doubt, the civil government, as far as any existed in such 
disorderly times, was directed by the high priest— which 
office, during a portion of Samson's time, appears to have 
been held by Eli, although, for chronological purposes, his 
administration is said to begin where the history of Samson 
ends. Eli judged Israel for forty years after the death of 
Samson. In the course of his administration, Hannah, the 
wife of Elkanah, a Levite, who had been barren, and on 
that account much insulted by another wife of Elkanah, who 
was fruitful, in her distress prayed to the Lord to give her a 
son, and vowed that if her suit were granted, she would 
dedicate that son as a Nazarite to the Lord all the days of his 
life. The petition was heard, and she called her son Samuel, 
signifying " heard of God," or "given of God." In accor- 
dance with the vow of special dedication, the child had no 
sooner reached a proper age than he was taken to the taber- 
nacle at Shiloh, and left there under the care of Eli, who 
soon became much attached to him, and, as he grew up, em- 
ployed him in personal attendance on himself, and in various 
services about the tabernacle. 



EGYPT. 

B.C. 

Remeses XL . . . 1110 



EVENTS— PERSONS. 

B.C. 

Return of the Heraclidae 
into Peloponessus . 1104 

Which they divide 
among themselves . 1102 

Kingdom of Lacedaemon 
commences . . . 1102 



SAMUEL CALLED. 



221 



2. Eli himself was descended from Ithamar, the second 
son of Aaron, and appears to have been the first high priest 
of the younger branch of the family. We know not on what 
occasion the elder branch, descended from Eleazer, had been 
set aside. Eli was a pions man, but of too easy and mild a 
disposition for his high situation. His gentle rebukes had 
therefore very little effect upon his two sons, Hophni and 
Phineas, who proved so degenerate, that they were guilty of 
the grossest excesses and most criminal abuses of their priestly 
office ; and hence the presentation of offerings and sacrifices 
became disagreeable and hateful to all the people. Although 
sensible of their bad conduct, Eli did not interpose his autho- 
rity to put a stop to it. 

3. Thus matters proceeded until the boy Samuel had 
attained the age of twelve years, when he was called by 
night, in a very remarkable way, to the prophetic office. On 
that occasion the destruction and deposition of Eli's house 
were denounced, on account of the iniquities of his sons and 
his own criminal neglect, — " because his sons made them- 
selves vile, and he restrained them not." Samuel could not 
conceal this revelation from Eli. The aged pontiff, in con- 
formity with the usual passive piety of his character, answered 
meekly, "It is the Lord : let him do what seemeth to him 
good!" From that time forward Samuel was favoured with 
frequent communications from God. The youth also con- 
ducted himself with so much propriety and discretion, that 
the people generally looked to him with affection and confi- 
dence, as appointed of God to an office which appears to have 
been for a long time intermitted. 

4. Ten years after the call of Samuel, the Israelites, with- 
out the consent or authority of their Divine King, whom they 
ought to have consulted, embarked in an ill-considered war 
with the Philistines. Being defeated in the first engagement 
with the loss of 4000 men, they had the presumption to send 
for the ark of God, out of the tabernacle, that they might 
fight under its protection. It was borne to the wars by 
Hophni and Phineas with other priests ; and its arrival filled 
the Philistines with dread, as they identified it with the pre- 
sence of " the mighty God, that smote the Egyptians with all 
the plagues." Yet they encouraged one another to fight 



222 



THE ARK TAKEN TO ASHDOD. 



manfully to save themselves from such bondage as that in 
which they had held the Israelites. Again they were victo- 
rious : 30,000 men of Israel fell in the battle ; Hophni and 
Phineas were slain ; and the ark of the covenant was taken. 
Eli, now blind with age, and his heart trembling for the ark 
of God, sat watching by the way side for the first news from 
the battle. He soon heard the disastrous tidings, and when 
the messenger announced that " the ark of God was taken," 
he fell off his seat, and, being heavy and old, his neck wa^ 
broken by the fall. 

5. The Philistines conveyed the ark to Ashdod, and 
placed it in the temple of Dagon their god, whose idol bore 
a figure half fish and half man. By this they perhaps in- 
tended to shew that their god had triumphed over the God 
whom the Hebrews worshipped. But He, always jealous of 
His glory, delayed not to vindicate it on this occasion. On 
successive nights, the image of Dagon was found thrice to 
have fallen prostrate before the ark, and the third time it 
was broken in pieces. He also smote the Philistines with a 
grievous disease, and with swarms of field-mice which marred 
z the land; and they 



were at lenglh com- 
pelled to appease the 
wrath of the God of 
Israel, by trespass- 
offerings expressive of 
the plagues with 
which they had been 
visited. These were 
five golden mice, and five golden emerods, which they put in 
a coffer beside the ark. They then set the ark on a new car. 
drawn by milch cows taken from their calves, which, without 
guidance, took the right 
road to the land of Israel, 
and stopped at Beth- 
shemesh, a city of the 
priests in the tribe of 
Judah. The restored 
ark, which had been 115 - 
seven months among the Philistines, was received with great 





CONTENTION AT MIZPEH. 



223 



joy by the people; but this was soon turned into mourning, 
for not fewer than 50,070 men were struck with sudden death 
for presuming to look into the ark. This made the men of 
Bethshemesh as much afraid as the Philistines had been, to 
have the ark any longer among them, and they invited the 
inhabitants of the neighbouring town of Kirjath-jearim to 
send and take it to themselves. They did so, and deposited 
it in the house of Abinadab, "upon the hill," who set apart 
his son Eleazer to take care of it. There it remained for 
eighty-two years, or until the tenth year of the reign of king 
David. 

6. Notwithstanding these signal events, the Israelites, 
who remained in subjection to the Philistines, continued care- 
less of the obligations of the covenant, and negligent of the 
worship of God. The exertions of Samuel, however, in the 
course of time, brought them round to a better state of feel- 
ing ; and after twenty years, they were disposed to return to 
their allegiance to their Divine King. Having, therefore, 
put aside all their strange gods, they held a solemn feast of 
humiliation for their sins at Mizpeh in Benjamin, and there 
poured out water before the Lord in token of then grief. 
Samuel, who was then formally recognised as judge over 
Israel, earnestly interceded for them, and implored deliver- 
ance from the Philistines, who had taken alarm at this large 
assemblage, and were then advancing to disperse them. This 
prayer was answered by a thunder-storm so tremendous, and 
so entirely unexpected at that season of the year, as struck 
such terror and amazement into the Philistines, that they 
were easily put to flight, and were pursued and smitten by the 
Israelites. The consequences of this victory relieved them 
from the yoke of the Philistines, who were obliged to restore 
the places taken from Israel, and were not in a condition to 
give any farther disturbance during Samuel's administration. 

7. The prophet-judge administered the government with 
great ability and care ; and perhaps made the office of the 
judge in time of peace, more efficient than it had ever been 
before. For the regular administration of justice, he took an 
annual circuit through the land to Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpeh, 
and Ramah, which last was the place of his usual residence. 
At that place he erected an altar for sacrifices; and this was 



224 SAMUEL APPOINTS JOEL AND ABIAH JUDGES. 

doubtless by special order or permission, as otherwise it would 
have been contrary to the letter and spirit of the law. Be- 
sides, the ark, that most sacred symbol of the Divine Pre- 
sence, was not then in the tabernacle, and the spot destined 
for its final resting-place was not yet known. 

8. At length Samuel, growing " old and greyheaded,"' 
appointed his sons Joel and Abiah to act as his deputies in 
the southern district of Palestine. They accordingly settled 
their residence at Beer-sheba ; but, in their management of 
affairs, they proved as unlike their father as Eli's sons had 
been unlike him. Greedy of gain, and careful only how to 
turn their public employment to their own private advantage T 
" they took bribes, and perverted judgment." 



BOOK n. 



CHAPTER I. B. C. 1095 to 1091. 



PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

The Israelites desire a king : Saul 

appointed 1095 

Saul defeats the Ammonites . . . 1095 

War with the Philistines .... 1093 

Saul's first offence 1093 

Jonathan's exploit at Michniash . 1091 



Amun-mai-Pouee . 



I. The misconduct of Samuel's sons, his own advanced age, 
and the seemingly unsettled state in which the government 
would be left at his death, were the ostensible grounds on 
which the elders of Israel proceeded in resolving to demand 
such a change in the government as would give them a human 
king, " to rule them like the nations." Every nation must 
have some great central principle on which it can unite as 
one community. This was particularly necessary in a nation, 
which, like that of Israel, had a strongly marked sectional 
division into tribes, whose interests were not always in agree- 
ment. Now, this principle had been very efficiently and very 
beautifully supplied by the theocracy, with its invisible but 
ever-present Divine King, and the sacred symbols and services. 
But the right working of this constitution depended on a con- 
tinued obedience in the people, which they had not manifested, 
and an appreciation of the system, of which they seem to 
have been scarcely capable. In short, the principle of this 
form of government was too refined for them ; and, notwith- 
standing its very numerous concessions to their weakness, they 
too often failed to comprehend it as their principle, and to act 
up to its requirements. Hence arose internal disorders and 
confusions, which, although really owing to the shortcomings 
of the people, yet seemed in some degree imputable to the 



226 



THE ISRAELITES DESIRE A KING. 



practical inefficiency of the central principle, and created the 
desire for something- less sublime and remote, — something 
visible, tangible, common, — suited to the apprehensions of an 
unintellectual people. Hence the demand for a king, and 
for the forms and institutions of a human monarchy, which 
might form a more sensible state-principle than the theocracy 
offered. 

2. When the elders made their application for this great 
change in the government to Samuel at Eamah, they found 
him strongly opposed to their wish. With becoming dignity, 
he vindicated the purity of his own administration, and chal- 
lenged any one to charge him with corruption or wrong-do- 
ing ; he reminded them that they had already a King, whose 
power and resources were illimitable, and under whom obedi- 
ence only was necessary to render their welfare secure ; he 
placed before them, in the most vivid manner, the exactions 
and services to which they would be subject under human 
kings, and from which they were now so happily exempt ; 
and, in short, it was his desire that they should rather strive 
to bring the national character up to the requirements of their 
present state-principle, than bring down the principle to a 
lower standard of character. But the elders had made up 
their minds on the subject, and persisted in their demand. 
As, therefore, the demand was made in a becoming manner, 
which referred the whole matter to the Lord through his pro- 
phet ; as Moses had foreseen and provided for such a contin- 
gency ; and as it was more than probable, that, in their pre- 
sent temper, the people would set up a king for themselves, 
unless indulged in their wish, Samuel was at length authorised 
to yield to their desire, although under a protest. 

3. We have now, therefore, to contemplate a new phase 
of the Jewish history, in which the government was not a 
pure theocracy, nor a simple monarchy, but a combination of 
the two. The Lord was still the Supreme King; and the 
human monarch was to be appointed by him, and the line of 
succession determined or changed at his pleasure. The king 
was to wield the ordinary administrative powers of royalty, 
and its signs and symbols of dignity and honour ; but his real 
position was that of a vice-king, — the minister, regent, or re- 



SAUL APPOINTED KING. 



227 



preservative of the Divine King-, whose counsel was to be 
sought, through the sacred oracles, on all occasions of import- 
ance, and whose directions, when given, were to he implicitly 
followed by the sovereign. It must, therefore, be understood 
that the responsibility of the Hebrew kings to the Lord, 
was not merely the responsibility under which every one is 
placed to God for the exercise of the powers entrusted to him ; 
but also the more immediate and particular responsibility of a 
delegated or representative ruler to the Supreme King of the 
state which he governs. This was the theory of the Hebrew 
monarchy, as, by anticipation, it had been settled long 
before by Moses (Dent. xvii. 14-20) ; and we shall find in 
the sequel that the character of the kings, whether good or 
bad, was determined by their observance or neglect of this 
fundamental principle. The kings themselves were but too 
much disposed to forget the fact of their dependence upon the 
Invisible King. 

4. Saul, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, had 
wandered about for three days seeking the strayed asses of his 
father. Fatigued with the unsuccessful search, he was dis- 
posed to abandon it and return home, when, finding himself 
near Eamah, where Samuel lived, he resolved to consult one 
who was renowned in all Israel as a man from whom nothing 
was hidden. Instructed in the Divine designs regarding 
Saul, the prophet received him with honour. He assured him 
that the asses which he had sought were already found, and 
invited him to stay with him until the next morning. Saul 
was in fact the man on whom the Divine appointment to be 
the first king of Israel had fallen. A hint of this high des- 
tiny, produced from the astonished stranger a modest declara- 
tion of his insufficiency. But the prophet gave him the place 
of honour before all the persons whom — foreknowing the time 
of his arrival — he had invited to his table. As is still usual 
in summer, Saul slept on the flat roof of the house ; and was 
called early in the morning by Samuel, who walked forth 
some way with him on his return home. When they had got 
beyond the town, they stopped, and Samuel then anointed 
Saul as the person whom God had chosen to be " captain over 
his inheritance and gave him the first kiss of civil homage. 



228 



SAUL CONFIRMED KING. 



In token of the reality of these things, and to assure the mind 
of the bewildered young man, the prophet foretold the inci- 
dents of his home- 
ward journey, and, 
in parting, desired 
his attendance on 
the seventh day fol- 
lowing at Gilgal. 

5. On the day 
and at the place ap- 
pointed, Samuel as- 
sembled a general 
convocation of the 
tribes for the elec- 
tion of a king. As 
usual, under the the- 
ocracy, the choice of God was manifested by the sacred lot. 
The tribe of Benjamin was chosen; and of the families of 
Benjamin, that of Matri was taken ; and, finally, the lot fell 
upon the person of Saul, the son of Kish. Anticipating this 
result, he had modestly concealed himself, to avoid an honour 
which he so little desired. But he was found, and brought 
before the people, who beheld with admiration his comely 
and dignified person, — for he stood taller, by the head and 
shoulders than any of the people. A physical superiority 
over the great body of the people, so manifest, and so highly 
appreciated in ancient times, procured a willing recognition of 
the king offered to them. Many persons in the great tribes, 
however, were dissatisfied that this election had vested the 
royalty over Israel in the smallest of the tribes, and in a 
person of so little consequence, even in that tribe, as Saul. 
They therefore held proudly aloof, and the new king was 
allowed to return, with a very humble attendance, to his home 
in Gibeah. Saul, although sensible of the neglect, wisely 
"held his peace" for the time; and it ultimately appeared 
that the different tribes could more readily unite around a 
monarch in his neutral position, than would have been pos- 
sible to them had a member of one of the more powerful 
tribes been chosen. Judah would have been reluctant to 
submit to a king of Ephraim, and the proud and fiery 




116. Kiss of Civil Homage. 



RELIEF OF JABESH GILEAD. 



229 



Ephraimites would not willingly have received a king from 
Judah. Perhaps, therefore, the choice which appears so 
strange at the first view, was the only one by which a civil 
war could have been averted. 

6. Soon after these things, the .Ammonites, under their 
king is ahash, took the field on the other side of the Jordan, 
and laid siege to the important town of Jabesh-Gilead. Be- 
ing forced to capitulate, the inhabitants could obtain no better 
terms than that every man should have his right eye put out. 
To this hard condition they agreed, unless relief should come 
within seven days. Messengers were immediately despatched 
to Saul, who had contentedly resumed his usual avocations in 
Gibeah, and, when the tidings were brought to him, was re- 
turning quietly from the fields with his herd. Instantly the 
spirit of a king was roused within him ; and he felt the duties, 
and claimed the powers of the Lord's anointed. He impera- 
tively summoned the warriors to his standard ; and speedily 
found himself at the head of a very large force, with which he 
crossed the Jordan, and by a forced march arrived before 
Jabesh, in time to save the inhabitants from their enemies, 
who were defeated with great slaughter. This splendid 
achievement manifested in Saul the qualities which, in these 
times, were most sought for in a king, and raised him so high 
in the estimation of the people, that Samuel deemed it proper 
to call another assembly at Gilgal, to confirm him in the king- 
dom. Here those who had hitherto manifested discontent, 
were obliged, by the force of popular opinion, to join in a 
general and more formal recognition of the new king. It was 
then that Saul began really to reign. 

7. Of the large force which had been collected, Saul re- 
tained only three thousand men, with whom he proposed to 
make war upon the Philistines, who held in possession many 
strong places in the south, and kept the neighbouring inhabi- 
tants in such subjection that they had been deprived of their 
weapons, and could not even get their implements of hus- 
bandry sharpened without going to the Philistine garrisons. 
Hence, in all the force, Saul and his eldest son, Jonathan, were 
the only persons who possessed a sword or a spear. The 
operations against the Philistines were commenced by Jona- 
than, who, with the thousand men whom his father had placed 



230 



EXPLOIT OF JONATHAN. 



under his command, cut off the Philistine garrison at Geba. 
Interpreting this as a declaration of war, the Philistines de- 
layed not to bring into the field a vast force, which compre- 
hended six thousand horsemen and three thousand chariots of 
war. Saul, on his part, had summoned all the tribes to send 
their levies to Gilgal. This they did in sufficient numbers ; 
but while they remained there waiting for Samuel, who had 
appointed to come and offer sacrifices, great numbers of the 
men slunk away, being appalled at the formidable aspect of 
the Philistine army. Saul was confessedly in a difficult posi- 
tion, and his obedience to the principle of the theocracy was 
severely tested. It failed ; for, becoming impatient at the 
delay of Samuel, he called for the victims, and himself offered 
the sacrifices. By this act he not only seemed to make a claim 
to exercise the priestly office, as kings did in other countries, 
but gave indications of the dispositions which in the end proved 
his ruin. He was a brave and able commander ; but he too 
often forgot that, in his political capacity, he was but the vassal 
of the Divine King ; and he did not always execute the orders 
he received, but made exceptions according to his own views. 
Just as the sacrifices had been offered, Samuel arrived, and 
strongly testified the Divine displeasure at this disobedience, 
which he declared had manifested the unfitness of Saul to be 
the founder of a race of kings. He then quitted the camp ; 
and Saul, hiding his concern, numbered his force, which he 
found dwindled away to six hundred men. ' Not daring to 
encounter the Philistine host with this handful of men, he 
marched with them to his own town of Gibe ah. 

8. The main body of the Philistines remained at Mich- 
mash ; but they frequently sallied out in parties, and ravaged 
the country without opposition. At length a bold plan was 
formed by Jonathan, who communicated it only to his armour- 
bearer, and the two secretly withdrew themselves from the 
camp. They found means to ascend a steep cliff, where the 
enemy least of all expected an attack ; and early in the morn- 
ing they fell upon the advanced guards of the Philistines. 
Some were slain by the sword, and the others thrown into 
such consternation, that they slew one another, mistaking 
friends for foes. As soon as Saul got intelligence of what had 
happened, he took advantage of the confusion into which they 



PHILISTINES ROUTED. 



231 



were already thrown, and fell upon the Philistines with such 
fury, that they were soon utterly routed. That the pursuit 
of the enemy might not be retarded, Saul, in the heat of the 
chase, proclaimed death to any one who should taste food 
before the night. Ignorant of this, Jonathan, happening to 
taste some wild honey, had well nigh fallen a sacrifice to the 
rash vow of his father, but was saved by the interposition of 
the people. 




232 



CHAPTEK II. B. C. 1095 to 1050. 



PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

War with the Ama- 

lekites .... 1085 
Saul's second offence 

and rejection . . 1079 

David born .... 1079 

David anointed . . 1070 

David slays Goliath . 1065 

David marries Michal 1060 
David's first flight to 

Gatk, &c. . . . 1059 



EGYPT. 

Amun-meses? from 1080 to 
about 1068, after which 
the succession is doubt- 
ful for ninety years. 



EVENTS AND PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Latinus, fifth king of 

the Latins . . . 1080 

Kingdom of Athens 

ends with Codrus 1070 

Medon, the first Ar- 

chon of Athens . 1070 



1. Several following years were distinguished by success- 
ful warfare with the enemies of Israel, — with Moab and Am- 
nion in the east, with Edom in the south, with the Philistines 
in the west, and with the Syrian kings of Zobah in the north. 
At length, in the tenth or eleventh year of his reign, Saul 
received orders, through Samuel, to execute the Lord's " fierce 
wrath " upon the Amalekites, who had formerly been doomed 
to utter extermination for opposing the Israelites when they 
came out of Egypt. The result of the war put it fully in the 
king's power to fulfil his commission ; but he thought proper to 
retain the best of the cattle as booty, and to bring back the 
Amalekite king Agag as a prisoner. Here again Saul ven- 
tured to use his own discretion where his commission left him 
none. For this the Divine decree, excluding his descendants 
from the throne, was again and irrevocably pronounced by 
Samuel, who met him at Gilgal on his return. The stern 
prophet then directed the Amalekite king to be brought forth 
and slain by the sword, after which he departed to his own 
home, and went no more to see Saul to the day of his death, 
though he ceased not to bemoan his misconduct and the for- 
feiture it had incurred. But, during the years in which 
Samuel mourned for Saul, the king himself seemed increasing 
in strength and power ; he became respected at home and 
feared abroad ; while the many virtues of his excellent son 
Jonathan, who was greatly beloved by the people, seemed to 
render his dynasty secure. Saul himself, however, appears to 



DAVID ANOINTED. 



233 



have had sad misgivings on this subject, and we may perhaps 
impute to the constant brooding of his mind upon the doom 
pronounced by the prophet, those fits of morbid melancholy 
into which he frequently fell. His general temper, at the 
same time, became sour, irritable, and sanguinary. 

2. At length, about the twenty-fifth year of Saul's reign, 
Samuel received the Divine mandate, to take measures for 
anointing the person whom the Lord had chosen to displace 
the race of Saul in the throne of Israel. For this purpose he 
was to proceed to Bethlehem, and there anoint one of the 
sons of a man named Jesse. This was a delicate commission, 
which, if known, might, as the prophet apprehended, induce 
Saul to slay him ; and he therefore veiled it under the form 
of a public sacrifice. The prophet appears to have made 
known his real purpose only to Jesse, who caused all his sons 
to pass before him, when they were rejected, one after another, 
until the youngest, David, was sent for from the fields, where 
he was with the sheep. This youth was the destined king ; and 
Samuel anointed him as such in the midst of his elder breth- 
ren, who, as well as himself, were probably kept in ignorance 
of the purport of this act. Samuel returned to his own home, 
and David continued to tend his father's flock. David was 
not more distinguished by the comeliness of his person than by 
his accomplishments and valour ; he was skilled in music and 
poetical composition, and he had, without weapons, slain a 
lion and a bear which attacked his flock. 

3. Meanwhile, the king's fits of melancholy madness went 
on increasing in frequency and duration, and no cure was 



"the son of Jesse" as an accomplished master of that instra- 
l2 




found for his dis- 
ordered mind. At 
length, some persons 
who had observed 
that Saul was much 



117. Grand Egyptian Harps. 



affected by music, 
suggested that the 
soothing powers of 
the harp should be 
tried ; and another 
then recommended 



234 GOLIATH CHALLENGES THE ISRAELITES. 



ment, and withal, a man of valour. Saul therefore delayed 
not to send to Jesse, commanding him to send his son to 
court. Little thinking that in him he beheld his successor 
on the throne, Saul received the youthful minstrel with favour. 
When the fits came upon him, David played on the harp, and 
under its soothing strains his mind soon recovered its usual 
tone. This service, together with his other engaging quali- 
ties, and his discreet behaviour, won the heart of the king, 
who conferred upon him the distinguished and confidential 
post of his armour-bearer. 

4. Since their last great discomfiture, the Philistines had 
recruited their strength, and in the thirtieth year of Saul's 
reign, and the twentieth of David's life, they again took the 
field against the Israelites. It curiously illustrates the nature 
of warfare in those times, to find that the presence, in the 
army of the Philistines, of one enormous giant about nine or 
ten feet high, filled them with confidence, and struck the 

Israelites with dread. 
The giant, whose name 
was Goliath, had a hel- 
met of brass upon his 
head, and he was armed 
with a brazen coat of 
mail, the weight of 
which was no less than 
six hundred shekels. 
He had also greaves of 
brass upon his legs, and 
a target of brass be- 
tween his shoulders ; 
and a man bearing his 
shield went before him. 
lis. shields. His weapons were of 

4 . course proportioned to 

1. The Tsenna, or Great Shield. 2. Common Egyptian r x 

Shield. 3. Target. 4, 5. Ancient Shields of un- his enormous bulk ; as 
known tribes. 6. Roundel. an of which? 

we are informed, that the staff of his spear was like a weaver's 
beam, and that its head contained six hundred shekels of 
iron. He presented himself daily between the two armies, 
and, with insulting language, defied the Israelites to produce 




DAVID OFFERS COMBAT TO GOLIATH. 



235 



a champion who might, in single combat with him, decide the 
quarrel between the nations. This was repeated many days ; 
but no Israelite was found bold enough to accept the chal- 
lenge. At this juncture David, who, when his services were 
no longer needed at court, had returned to his father, arrived 




119. Coats of Mail. 
1. Egyptian tigulated. 2. Sleeve of ring-mail, Ionian. 



120. Spear Heads. 

at the camp to visit his elder brethren who were with the 
army. Hearing the insolent vaunts of the proud Pagan, 
witnessing the dismay of the people, and learning that 
high rewards had been offered to the man who should 
overcome the giant, David offered himself for the combat. 
He was accordingly brought before the king, who failed to 
recognise him under the altered appearance which a year or 
two on the verge of manhood produces, but, contrasting the 
bulk;and known prowess of the giant with the inexperience 
and light frame of the young man, earnestly disuaded him 



236 



DAVID SLAYS GOLIATH. 



from the enterprize. But as David expressed his strong con- 
fidence that the God of Israel, who had delivered hirn from 
the Hon and the bear when he tended his father's flock, 
would also deliver him from the Philistine, Saul at length 
allowed him to go forth against Goliath. Refusing all armour 
of proof and weapons of common warfare, David advanced to 



than the son of Jesse. But as Goliath strode forward to 
meet David, the latter slung one of his smooth stones with 
so sure an aim and so strong an arm, that it smote his 
opponent in the middle of the forehead and brought him to 
the ground. 

5. The king lost no time in following up this blow, and 
attacked the astonished Philistines with such vigour that they 
immediately gave way and were defeated with tremendous 
slaughter. Triumphant was the return of Saul ; but it mor- 
tified his pride to perceive that David was on all hands re- 
garded as the hero of the day : and when the damsels made 
this the burden of their triumphal song — " Saul has slain his 
thousands, and David his ten thousands I" he could not con- 
ceal his resentment that the honours of victory should be 
thus proportioned. From a fretful expression which he let 
fall, it seems more than likely that he then first suspected 
that David was kt the man after God's own heart,'' to whom 
his throne was to be given. His inquiries probably confirmed 
this impression, and thenceforth he lost no opportimity of ex- 
posing David to disgrace and danger. But all the schemes 




121. Egyptian Slingera and Sling. 



the combat, armed 
only with his shep- 
herd's sling and a few 
smooth pebbles picked 
up from the brook 
which flowed through 
the valley. The as- 
tonished giant felt in- 
sulted at being offered 
such an opponent, and 
poured forth such hor- 
rid threats as might 
have appalled any one 
less strong in faith 



DAVID MARRIES MICHAL. 



237 



laid for his ruin served only to make more prominent David's 
valour in the field, and the wisdom and generosity of his 
general conduct. Finding that the honours which were 
designed as snares for him — including that of giving him his 
daughter Michal in marriage — really exalted David, Saul 
could no longer confine his dark passions to his own bosom, 
but charged his son Jonathan and others to take some oppor- 
tunity of destroying the son of Jesse for him. He little sus- 
pected that a most tender friendship, " passing the love of 
women," had grown up between Jonathan and David. To 
Jonathan, in particular, was this celebrated friendship highly 
honourable ; for it was not unknown to him that the son of 
Jesse was destined to exclude himself and his children from 
the throne of Israel. But with a generosity of feeling, of 
which there is scarcely another example, he cheerfully ac- 
quiesced in the superior claims of David, and was the most 
ardent admirer of his person and character. He could even 
find pleasure in picturing the time when David should sit 
upon the throne, and when he should himself be next to him 
in place, as nearest to him in love, and find in him the pro- 
tector and guardian of the very children whom narrow minds 
might have suspected to be in the utmost danger from his 
claims. 

6. On the present occasion Jonathan gave his friend 
timely notice of danger, and spoke so forcibly to his father, 
that his better feelings overcame his insane horror of David, 
and he promised to make no further attempt upon his life. 
But soon after this, David, having commanded an expedition 
against the Philistines, so distinguished himself as to increase 
the admiration of the people, and to revive the hatred of Saul. 
When he resumed his place at court, and was one day play- 
ing on his harp to soothe the perturbed spirit of the king, he 
narrowly escaped death from a javelin which Saul threw with 
the intention of pinning him to the wall. He then withdrew 
to his own house, where he was followed by men whom the 
king sent to despatch him. But they were amused and de- 
ceived by David's wife Michal, Saul's own daughter, while 
her husband was let down from the window in a basket and 
made his escape to Samuel at Kamah. Repeated attempts to 
take him thence or slay him there, the last of which was 



238 



DAVID GOES TO ADULLAM. 



made by the king in person, were defeated by the special in- 
terposition of Providence. But Saul, brooding gloomily over 
his doom, still cherished his cruel purpose against him ; and 
on one occasion he even threw his javelin at Jonathan for 
speaking in favour of his absent friend. This being made 
known to David, he resolved, after a private interview and 
tender parting with Jonathan, to withdraw himself effectually 
from the designs upon his life by retiring to a foreign land. 
For this purpose he made choice of Gath, one of the five 
Philistine states. In this choice he was probably guided by 
the consideration that the Philistines, from their enmity to 
Saul, were less likely than any other neighbouring nation to 
give him up at the demand of the king. 

7. The tabernacle had by this time been removed from 
Shiloh to Nob, in the tribe of Benjamin ; and David, with 
his few followers, called there on his way, and procured from 
the high priest, Ahimelech, a supply of provisions and the 
only weapon in his possession — the very sword which David 
himself had taken from Goliath, and which had been laid up 
in the tabernacle as a trophy of that victory. This assistance 
David obtained under the unjustifiable pretence of being on a 
private mission from the king. He then proceeded to Gath ; 
but finding that the Philistines cherished revengeful recollec- 
tions of his former exploits against them, he feigned himself 
mad, and by that means escaped their resentment. 

8. David then left the country of the Philistines and re- 
paired to the wild district of Adullam, in the tribe of Judah. 
Here there was a large and not easily accessible cave, which 
formed an excellent shelter for himself, and the men of broken 
fortunes and reckless character, about four hundred in number, 
who resorted to him, and of whom he became the captain. 

9. From Adullam David went to the land of Moab for 
the purpose of placing his parents in safety there, lest they 
should become exposed to the blind fury with which Saul 
was now animated. He was perhaps inclined to remain there 
himself; but it was of importance that his dangers and con- 
duct should keep him in the view of his admiring countrymen, 
and a prophet was therefore sent to command his return to 
the land of Judah. He obeyed, and found refuge in the 
forest of Hareth. 



239 



CHAPTER III. B.C. 1059 to 1055. 

PALESTINE. 



B. C. 

David's wanderings . . . 1059 to 1054 

Death of Samuel 1057 

David's second flight to Gath . . 1055 



e. c. 

Saul's third offence 1055 

Saul defeated and slain by the Phi- 
listines 1055 



1. The mind of Saul was of too coarse a mould to under- 
stand that it was possible for David to know his high des- 
tinies, and yet abide God's own time, without taking any 
questionable measures to advance them. He persuaded him- 
self that David had organized an extensive conspiracy against 
his life and government ; he suspected every one about him 
of being engaged in this conspiracy, and believed that his son 
Jonathan had been drawn into it. He was in a most san- 
guinary mood, and craved for some objects on which to wreak 
his fury. Unhappily such objects were found in the high- 
priest and others of the sacerdotal order. One Doeg, an 
Edomite in the employment of Saul, had been present at Nob 
when David was there ; and he gave an exaggerated report 
of the assistance which Ahimelech had given to the fugitive. 
On hearing this, Saul sent for the pontiff, and the rest of the 
priests then at Nob, and, accusing them of traitorous prac- 
tices, ordered them to be slain. His guards refused this bar- 
barous office ; but Doeg and other strangers executed the 
king's order without compunction. Eighty-five of the priestly 
race perished : nor did this satisfy the sanguinary king, for 
he sent to Nob, ordering man, woman, child, and every liv- 
ing creature, to be put to the sword. None escaped but 
Abiathar ; and he fled to David, who was greatly shocked at 
the tidings which he brought. Thus another and almost 
final step was taken in the completion of that doom which 
had many years before been pronounced upon the house of 
Eli. This, however, was no excuse for Saul, whose tender- 
ness towards the Amalekites, whom he was commanded to 
destroy, is strikingly contrasted with his shocking immolation 
of the priests of God, whom it was his duty to protect. 



240 DAVID FLEES TO THE PHILISTINES. ' 

2. Meanwhile, David found an opportunity of employing 
his troop for the benefit of his country, by relieving the town 
of Keilah from the incursions of the Philistines. He then 
entered that town ; which Saul no sooner heard, than he 
marched to lay siege to it. But David, being informed by 
the sacred oracle, which Abiathar, who acted as his priest, 
consulted for him, that the inhabitants would deliver him up, 
withdrew into the wild country in the eastern part of Judah, 
towards the Dead Sea, and found refuge in the wilderness of 
Ziph. While he was there, Jonathan came to him privately, 
to encourage him to trust in God, and to renew their cove- 
nant of friendship and peace. This was the last time these 
devoted friends saw each other. 

3. Soon after this, some ill-disposed persons of the neigh- 
bourhood went to Gibeah, and acquainted Saul with the place 
of David's retreat. The king immediately marched thither 
with a sufficient force ; but David, being warned of his ap- 
proach, retreated southward into the wilderness of Maon, 
before his arrival. Saul followed him thither ; and was close 
upon him, when he was providentially called off to repel an 
unexpected incursion of the Philistines. This gave David an 
opportunity of withdrawing to Engedi, among the rocky fast- 
nesses which border the Dead Sea ; and to that quarter Saul 
pursued him with three thousand men, after he had repulsed 
the Philistines. Here, being one day weary, the king with- 
drew into a cave to take some rest. In the providence of 
God, it happened that this was the very cave in whose inte- 
rior recesses David and his men lay concealed ; and whilst 
Saul slept, David advanced softly, and cut off the skirt of his 
robe. When the king went out of the cave, David followed 
him at some distance, and at length called to him, and dis- 
played the skirt in evidence of his innocence. Saul could not 
but feel that the man who had taken the skirt could quite as 
easily have taken his life ; and struck by this magnanimity, 
his stern heart was for the time subdued. " Is that thy voice, 
my son David !" he cried, and then he wept. He acknow- 
ledged that he had been foolish and criminal ; he admitted 
that the son of Jesse was worthy of the destinies which 
awaited him ; and he exacted from him a promise, that when 
he became king he would not root out the family of his pre- 



SAMUEL S DEATH. 



241 



decessor, as eastern kings were wont to do. Saul then with- 
drew : but David had too little confidence in his good resolu- 
tions to make any alteration in his own position. 

4. The death of Samuel took place shortly after this, in 
the ninety-second year of his age. He appears to have re- 
tained his judicial authority, even after Saul became king ; 
and he was much and deservedly lamented by the people be- 
fore whom he had acted a public part from his very cradle, 
with equal credit to himself and benefit to his country. Soon 
afterwards, David retreated southward into the desert of 
Paran. The shepherds of southern Israel led their flocks in- 
to those distant pastures in the proper season ; and the pre- 
sence of David and his men, at this time, effectually protected 
them from the Bedouin tribes, by which they were in general 
much molested. Afterwards returning to the wilderness of 
Maon, David heard that a rich sheep-master, called Nabal, 
with whose shepherds his men had been very friendly in the 
desert, was making great preparations for the entertainment 
of his people during the shearing of his numerous flocks of 
sheep. David being in great want of provisions sent a 
respectful message to solicit a supply from him. Nabal, who 
was of a churlish disposition, refused the application with in- 
sult ; at which ungracious return for the protection which had 
been given to his flocks in the desert, David was so much 
enraged, that he hastily determined to inflict a severer punish- 
ment than the occasion warranted, by bearing fire and sword 
to the homestead of the brutish sheep-master. 

5. Some such resolution on his part was foreseen by such 
of the shepherds then present as had been out into the desert ; 
but the execution of it was prevented by the prudent conduct 
of Abigail, the wife of Nabal, a very excellent and beautiful 
woman, whom David married after Nabal's death. Here it 
is right to mention that after David fled from court, Saul, to 
wound him in the tenderest point, obliged his daughter, 
Michal, the first wife of David, to marry another husband. 

6. David again retreated into the wilderness of Ziph, 
which coming to the knowledge of Saul, he, notwithstanding 
his recent convictions, again went in search of him with 3000 
men. While the King of Israel lay encamped and surrounded 
by his troops, during the darkness and stillness of the night, and 

M 



242 DAVID FLEES TO THE PHILISTINES. 

when all were fast asleep, David, accompanied by his nephew 
Abishai, penetrated, "undiscovered, to the place where the 
monarch lay, and took away the spear which was stuck in the 
ground near his head, and the cruse of water which stood by 
his side. In the morning, he called to the king from the hill- 
side, and displayed these manifest tokens that the king's life 
had been completely in his power. His remonstrance was 
attended with the same result as on the former occasion. Saul 
was deeply affected, and, having acknowledged that he had 
acted " foolishly/' returned to Gibeah. 

7. The strong faith by which David had been hitherto 
sustained, now began in some degree to give way under these 
continued persecutions ; and apprehending that, if he remained 
any longer in the country, he should one day perish by the 
hand of Saul, he resolved again to seek refuge with the Phi- 
listines of Gath. This very questionable step brought him 
into dangers quite as imminent as those from which he fled, 
and involved him in much insincere conduct which cannot be 
contemplated without pain. Achish, the king of Gath, re- 
ceived him and his men with pleasure, probably because he 
calculated that persons so persecuted by Saul, would render 
effectual service in the war against him, for which the Philis- 
tine states were then making preparations. After being for 
some time hospitably entertained at Gath, the king gave to 
David the border town of Ziklag, that he and his men might 
dwell there with their families and possessions. While at this 
place, David employed his men from time to time in expedi- 
tions against the Amalekites and other nations of the south ; 
and by the spoil thus acquired his men were greatly enriched. 
But, as these nations were friends and allies of the Philistines, 
Achish was led to believe that his operations were directed 
against his own countrymen the Israelites, which gave the 
king of Gath great satisfaction — in the belief that by thus 
making himself abhorred in Israel, he had rooted himself in 
the service of the Philistines. This duplicity, however, soon 
brought its own punishment ; for, when the Philistines were 
ready for the war against Saul, David found that no ground 
was left him on which he could decline the invitation of 
Achish, to go with him against Israel. He was only saved 
from his difficulty by the jealousy of the princes of the other 



SAUL AND THE WOMAN OF ENDOE. 243 

Philistine states, who, justly suspecting the sincerity of his 
alleged enmity against his own people, compelled Achish to 
send him back to Ziklag. On his return, David found that 
the Amalekites had taken advantage of his absence to burn 
and pillage the place, and had carried away as captives all 
the people, chiefly women and children, who had been left 
there. He immediately pursued after them, and having at 
length overtaken them, when they deemed themselves in safety, 
cut them in pieces, and not only recovered all that they had 
taken, but obtained abundant spoil, which they had collected 
in other places, and out of which he sent valuable gifts to his 
friends in Judah. 

8. Meanwhile the Philistine army continued its march 
into the land of Israel, and penetrated to the eastern part of 
the great battle-field of Esdraelon ; by which time Saul had 
formed an opposing camp on the mountains of Gilboa. When 
he beheld the vast force which the Philistine states had, by a 
mighty effort, brought into the field, dire misgiving as to the 
result arose in his mind ; and now, at last, in this extremity, 
he sought counsel of God. But the Lord answered him not 
by any of the usual means, — by dreams, by Urim, nor by 
prophets. Finding himself thus forsaken, he had recourse 
to a witch at Endor, not far from Gilboa, to whom he re- 
paired by night in disguise, and conjured her to evoke the 
spirit of Samuel that he might ask counsel of him in this fear- 
ful emergency. Accordingly, an aged and mantled figure 
arose, which Saul took to be the ghost of Samuel, though 
whether it were really so or not has been much questioned. 
The king bowed himself reverently, and told the reason for 
which he had called him from the dead. The figure, in reply, 
told him that God had taken the crown from his house, and 
given it to a worthier man ; that, on the next day, the Philis- 
tines would triumph over Israel ; and that he and his sons 
should be slain in the battle. The king swooned at these 
heavy tidings, but soon recovered ; and having taken some 
refreshment, returned the same night to the camp. 

9. The next morning the two armies engaged, when the 
Israelites gave way before the Philistines, and maintained a 
running fight until they had fallen back upon Mount Gilboa, 
from which they had advanced to meet the enemy. Plere 



244 



SAUL DEFEATED AND SLAIN. 



they attempted to rally, but in vain : Jonathan and two other 
of Saul's sons were killed, and the army was thrown into 
complete disorder. At length Saul himself was desperately 
wounded ; and fearing that he would fall into the hands of 
the enemy, and be ignominiously treated by them, he prayed 
his armour-bearer to thrust him through ; and when that 
faithful follower refused, he took his own sword, fell upon it, 
and died. This example was followed by the armour-bearer. 

10. The next morning, when the Philistines went over 
the field of battle, they found the bodies of Saul and his sons. 
They cut off their heads, and sent them, with their armour, 
into Philistia as trophies of their victory ; and the bodies 
were shamefully gibbetted upon the walls of the neighbour- 
ing town of Bethshan, near the Jordan. But the people of 
Jabesh Gilead, on the other side of the river, mindful of their 
ancient obligations to their king, went over by night and 
stole away the bodies, which they burned, and then buried 
the remains under a tree. 

11. Three days after his return to Ziklag, the news of 
this action and its results were first brought to David by an 
Amalekite. This man, in roaming over the field of battle, 
had found the body of Saul, which he divested of the royal 
diadem and armlets, and, in expectation of great rewards, 
hastened with them to David, whose appointment to the 
throne appears to have been by this time well known not 
only to the Israelites but to their neighbours. To enhance 
his claims of reward, he pretended that the wounded king 
had fallen by his hand. But he grievously misunderstood 
the character of David, who rent his clothes in bitter afflic- 
tion, and ordered the Amalekite to be slain for laying his 
hands upon " the Lord's anointed." David then poured forth 
his grief for Israel, for Saul, and for Jonathan, his friend, in 
one of the most beautiful elegiac odes to be found in any 
language. 



245 



CHAPTER IV. B.C. 1055 to 1034. 



B.C. | 

David begins to reisn over Judah in I 

Hebron 1055 | 

Abner sets up Ishbosheth, son of Saul, 

as king, 1055 

Abner conies over to David, and is as- 
sassinated by Joab 1048 

Isbbosbetb assassinated .... 1047 
David becomes king of all Israel . 1047 
Takes the fortress of Jebus in Jeru- 
salem 1046 



B.C. 

Removes the Ark of the Covenant to 
Jerusalem 1045 

Designs to build a temple, but is told 
to leave that work for his son . . 1040 

Sin in the matter of Bathsheba and 
Uriah 1035 

Is reproved by Nathan, and re- 
pents 1034 



1. Saul being dead, David inquired of God what course 
he should take, and was directed to repair to Hebron, the 
principal town in the tribe of Judah. At that place the men 
of Judah publicly anointed him as their king. But through 
the able management of Abner, a near relative of the late 
king, and the chief commander of his forces, the other tribes 
acknowledged Ishbosheth, the only surviving son of Saul, 
whose residence was fixed at Mahanaim, eastward of the 
Jordan. For two years no hostile acts took place between 
the two kingdoms ; but, at the end of that time, war was 
commenced by Abner, with the view of bringing Judah 
under obedience to the house of Saul. To oppose him David 
sent Joab, his sister's son, who, with his brothers Abishai 
and the swift-footed Asahel, had been amongst his most ac- 
tive and devoted followers in all his wanderings. The most 
remarkable action in this war took place at Gibeon, where 
the forces of Abner were defeated and put to flight. Abner 
being closely pursued by Asahel, and having in vain entreated 
him to desist, smote him dead with his spear. At length a 
number of Benjamites rallied under Abner, and faced the 
pursuers, when the opposing tribes came to a parley ; and 
Joab, being persuaded by Abner to prevent the further effu- 
sion of kindred blood, drew off his forces, and went home. 
In most of the other actions of this war David had the ad- 
vantage, and his interest in the nation daily increased, while 
that of Ishbosheth declined. 



246 



ABNER ASSASSINATED BY JOAB. 



2. One so able and experienced as Abner conld not but 
apprehend the final result ; and being stimulated by a per- 
sonal dispute with Ishbosheth, he resolved to withdraw from 
him, and give to David that support by which alone the house 
of Saul was upheld. Having obtained authority from the 
other tribes to treat with David, he repaired to Hebron, and 
was there received and entertained with all honour and re- 
spect ; and after having conferred with the king, withdrew 
with the intention of completing the transaction. Joab just 
then returned from a military expedition, and being informed of 
what had taken place, he became jealously apprehensive that 
such a man as Abner would soon supplant him with David ; 
and professing to believe that the whole was a snare laid by 
Abner, he reproached the king, in no very measured terms, for 
the reception he had given to him. He also burned to avenge 
the death of his brother, which, indeed, the popular ideas con- 
nected with " blood- revenge," seemed to impose upon him as 
a duty. He therefore despatched a messenger to recall Abner, 
in the king's name, to Hebron. He met him at the gate of 
the town, and drawing him aside, as if to speak with him pri- 
vately, treacherously stabbed him. This was likely to have 
the very worst effect upon the pending negotiations. David, 
by the abhorrence he expressed at this cruel and treacherous 
deed, by his lamentations, and by a magnificent funeral, in 
which he appeared himself as a mourner, evidenced that he 
had no part in the murder ; and of this the people were satis- 
fied. But the influence of Joab with the soldiers was too 
great to allow the king, at that time, to inflict on him the 
punishment he deserved. The loss of Abner rendered the 
condition of Ishbosheth utterly hopeless ; and not long after, 
two of his own officers, expecting great rewards from David, 
murdered him in his bed, and hastened with his head to He- 
bron. But no sooner had David heard their boastful confes- 
sion, and seen the head of his rival, than, with great indig- 
nation, he condemned the assassins to an ignominious death, 
for the crime by which they had hoped to win his favour. 

3. The tribes, now looking upon David as the man who 
had been specially nominated by the Divine Head of their 
theocracy, and as one whose military services in the time of 
Saul entitled him more than any living man to the distinction, 



DAVID MAKES JERUSALEM HIS METROPOLIS. 247 

unanimously offered him the crown. Having accepted the 
offer, with conditions annexed to it, David was, in the pre- 
sence of the elders of all the tribes, anointed a second time at 
Hebron, and proclaimed king over all Israel. He had then 
reigned seven and a half years as king of Judah only. 

4. The resources of united Israel being now at his dis- 
posal, David turned his attention to such military enterprises 
as might consolidate and extend his empire. His first act 
was to gain possession of the fortress which was still held by 
the Jebusites in Mount Zion. This fortress being deemed 
impregnable, the attempt to take it was derided by the Jebu- 
sites. It was, however, carried by storm, under the conduct 
of Joab, who was in consequence appointed captain-general 
of the forces of the whole kingdom, as he had been before of 
those of Judah. David then made Jerusalem the metropolis 
of his realm, and fixed his residence upon Mount Zion. His 
success in accomplishing what for many ages had resisted all 
the efforts of the Israelites, seemed a most auspicious com- 
mencement of David's reign, and even attracted the attention 
of foreigners. Hiram, king of Tyre, sent ambassadors to con- 
gratulate him on his accession to the throne, and to enter into 
a league with him. As the Phoenicians were well skilled in 
the fine and useful arts, David was glad to avail himself of 
their assistance in building a palace in the captured city. 

5. The Philistines regarded with apprehension the in- 
creasing prosperity of the Israelites ; and to keep it in check, 
invaded the south with a large army. They had some suc- 
cesses at first, David not being prepared to meet them in the 
field ; but when he had collected his forces, he gave them 
battle, and discomfited them so completely in two different 
engagements, that they were never again able to give any 
serious disturbance to Israel. 

6. Having now a respite from war, David formed the de- 
sign of removing to his new capital the ark of the covenant, 
which had so long remained in obscurity at Kirjath-jearim. 
A vast company of priests and Levites, chiefs and elders, from 
all parts of the land, attended at this important solemnity ; 
and numerous instruments of music sounded in harmony with 
the glad feelings of the people. But, through ignorance or 
inadvertence, the ark, which should have been borne on the 



248 



DAVID DESIGNS TO BUILD A TEMPLE. 




shoulders of the Levites, was put upon a car drawn by oxen. 
On the way the animals stumbled, and Uzzah, the son of 
Abinadab, put forth his hand to support the tottering ark, for 
a /p which he was struck 

dead upon the spot, 
none but priests being 
allowed to touch it on 
pain of death (Nunib. 
iv. 15). This judg- 
ment threw a damp 
over the whole proceeding ; and David, being afraid to take 
the ark farther, left it in the care of Obed-edom, a Levite, 
whose house was near at hand. This person experienced 
the Divine favoiu* and blessing in a very remarkable manner, 
during the three months the ark remained under his roof. 
The news of this encouraged David to resume his original 
design, which he did with the more confidence, as he had 
meanwhile taken care to acquaint himself with the prescribed 
observances for the orderly removal of the ark. It was 
accordingly removed with great pomp and ceremony, and 
deposited in a tabernacle which David had provided for it. 

7. About five years after, when the king was inhabiting 
his house of cedar, and God had given him rest from all his 
enemies, he meditated the design of bunding a temple in 
which the ark of the Lord might be placed, instead of being 
deposited " within cm-tains," or in a tent, as hitherto. This 
design was at first encouraged by the prophet Nathan ; but 
he was afterwards instructed to tell David that this work was 
less appropriate for him, who had been a warrior from his 
youth, and had shed much blood, than for his son, who should 
enjoy in prosperity and peace the rewards of his father's vic- 
tories. Nevertheless, the design itself was highly commended, 
as betokening proper sentiments ; and for this, and for his 
faithful allegiance to the Supreme King of Israel, it was pro- 
mised that the sceptre should be perpetuated in his family. 
To this was added an intimation — sufficiently intelligible to 
him, and which filled him with joy — that the long-promised 
Messiah, the Anointed of God, should be niunbered among 
his descendants. To David this was an honour greater than 
his crown ; and in very beautiful and elegant language he 



THE MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART. 249 

expressed his adoration and gratitude. Since lie was him- 
self precluded from building the temple, it became an object 
of interest to him, during the rest of his life, to provide the 
materials for it, and to form arrangements and lay down rules 
for the more imposing and orderly celebration of the ritual 
worship which the law had prescribed. He divided the 
priests and Levites, who had become very numerous, into 
bands, and fixed a regular rotation of service. Music, instru- 
mental and vocal, was also introduced by him into the sacred 
services. A great number of the sacred songs to be used in 
these services were composed by himself. These are to this 
day preserved to us in the Book of Psalms. 

8. The next measures of David were calculated, if not 
designed, to give a peaceable and prosperous reign to his suc- 
cessor, by subduing or weakening all the neighbouring powers 
likely to disturb his repose. In successive campaigns he 
completed the reduction of the Philistines, and took posses- 
sion of G-ath and its towns, using them as barrier towns for 
Judah ; he utterly subdued the Moabites, and dismantled all 
their strongholds ; he cleared his eastern frontier to the 
Euphrates, and made the Syrians of Zobah and Damascus 
tributary, and brought the Eclomites under the like subjection, 
after he had defeated them with great slaughter in the valley 
of Salt. From all these wars, which appear to have occupied 
about three years, he returned to Jerusalem with rich spoils, 
which he laid up for the use of the future temple. To the 
same use he applied the presents which he received from fo- 
reign kings whose attention was drawn to his victories, and 
who deemed it expedient to propitiate so great a conqueror. 

9. The Scriptures describe David as " a man after God's 
own heart." By this we are not to understand that David 
always acted rightly, or that God approved of all he did. 
Its meaning is, that, in his public capacity, as king of Israel, 
he acted in accordance with the true theory of the theocratical 
government ; was always alive to his dependence on the Su- 
preme King ; took his own true place in the system, and as- 
pired to no other ; and conducted all his undertakings with 
reference to the Supreme will. He constantly calls himself 
" the servant (or vassal) of Jehovah :" and that, and no other, 
was the true place for the human king of Israel to fill. By 



250 



DAVID AND BATHSHEBA. 



thus limiting the description of David as " a man after God's 
own heart," we are left free from any necessity of vindicating 
all his acts, or of upholding him as an immaculate character, 
which he was very far from being. The basis of his charac- 
ter, and the general tone of his conduct, were good, — were 
better than we usually find among men. But the same ardent 
temperament which sometimes betrayed his judgment in his 
public acts, led him into great errors and crimes ; it also 
made him the first to discover his lapse, and the last to for- 
give himself. Who can depict the sins of David in stronger 
language than he does himself? Who was ever more sub- 
missive to punishment, or more convinced of his unworthiness 
to receive forgiveness and consolation ? 

10. We find him engaged in a war with the Ammonites, 
in the eighteenth year of his reign, to avenge the insulting 
treatment which his ambassadors had received from their king. 
The conduct of this war David intrusted to Joab, and re- 
mained himself at Jerusalem. There, while sauntering upon 
the roof of his palace, after the noon-day sleep which is usual 
in the East, he perceived a woman whose great beauty at- 
tracted his great regard. She proved to be Bathsheba, the 
wife of Uriah, an officer of Canaanitish origin, then absent 
with the army, besieging Kabbah, the capital of Ammon. 
David sent for her, and, under the influence of criminal pas- 
sion, became an adulterer. This first crime was followed by 
a greater ; for, to cover his own sin, and to save the woman 
from the doom of an adulteress, he sent for Uriah to Jerusa- 
lem. Having heard from him the particulars of the war 
which he pretended to require, the king dismissed him to his 
own home. But Uriah, considering that it ill became a 
soldier to seek his bed while his companions lay on the hard 
ground, under the canopy of heaven, exposed to all the at- 
tacks of the enemy, remained all night in the hall of the 
palace with the guards, and returned to the wars without 
having seen Bathsheba. This cost him his life ; for David, 
seeing no other way to prevent the consequences he appre- 
hended, made him the bearer of an order to Joab to expose 
him to certain death in some perilous enterprise against the 
enemy. He was obeyed by that unscrupulous general ; and 
when David heard that Uriah was dead, he sent for Bath- 



DAVID REPROVED BY NATHAN. 



251 



sheba and made her his wife. He had already several wives, 
as was customary in those times ; and among them was Michal, 
whom he had long ago reclaimed from the man to whom she 
had been given by Saul. 

11. David thought all was now safe ; but he was much 
mistaken. The prophet Nathan was sent to him, and by a 
fictitious tale of oppression applicable to the case (2 Sam. xii. 
1-4), so kindled the anger of David that he not only sen- 
tenced the supposed offender to restore fourfold, according to 
the law, but condemned the criminal to death. Instantly the 
prophet exclaimed — " Thou art the man !" and proceeded, in 
the name of the Lord, to rebuke him for his heinous trans- 
gression, and to announce the punishments which it became 
his justice to inflict. 

12. No sooner were the eyes of David thus opened than 
he instantly confessed his crimes with great humility and con- 
trition, and submitted himself to the chastisements of God. 
This becoming repentance averted the sentence of death from 
himself, but it was transferred to the offspring of his crime, 
then newly born. To mark the divine displeasure against 
sin, the rest of David's life was full of troubles from his chil- 
dren, three more of whom died untimely deaths ; thus, in 
some sense, completing a fourfold retaliation for the murder 
of Uriah. 

13. The war with the Ammonites was successful. Kab- 
bah, the metropolis, which was the last to yield, was taken ; 
and the people generally were so completely subjected, that 
David put them to hard labour and servile employments in 
the fields, woods, and brick-kilns. Among the spoils was the 
very costly crown of the king, which David appropriated to 
his own use, and wore on state occasions. 



252 



CHAPTER V. B.C. 1034 to 1015. 



PALESTINE. 

B.C. 

Solomon born ........ 1033 

Absalom's vengeance on Aninon . 1030 

Absalom recalled ...... 1027 

His rebellion and death .... 1023 

David numbers the people . . . 1017 

Rehoboam born 1015 

Adonij ah's rebellion ..... 1015 

Solomon proclaimed king .... 1015 

David dies 1015 



EVENTS AND PERSONS. 

B.C. 

Medon, king of Argos 1030 

Alba, sixth king of the Latins . . 1029 
Archippus, third archon of Athens . 1014 
Hiram, king of Tyre 



1. The threatened troubles in the house of David were 
not long in breaking out. Amnon, his eldest son, dis- 
honoured his half-sister, Tamar, who was the fall sister of 
Absalom. This injury excited in the mind of Absalom a 
resentment which only blood could satisfy. He said nothing 
for a time. But after two years, when all seemed to be 
forgotten, he invited all the royal family to a feast with 
which he celebrated the shearing of his sheep. Amnon was 
among the guests ; and, at a given signal from their master, 
he was set upon and murdered by the servants of Absalom. 
On this, all the others mounted their mules, and fled in haste 
to Jerusalem ; while Absalom himself lost no time in seeking 
refuge at the court of his maternal grandfather, Talmai, king 
of Geshur. He remained there three years ; for although 
David, after the first burst of indignation and grief, would 
have been willing to recal him, he was prevented by the 
dread of public opinion and the demands of justice. At the 
end of the three years, however, the king, through the con- 
trivance and intercession of Joab, was induced " to call home 
his banished;" but a regard for appearances excluded Ab- 
salom from the presence of his father until two years after 
his return to Jerusalem. 

2. Absalom was now the eldest living son of David, and, 
in ordinary circumstances, might have been considered the 
heir-apparent to the throne. But it was already known to 
David that Solomon, his eldest surviving son by Bathsheba 
was destined by God to be his successor. The Lord, as we 



ABSALOM IS PROCLAIMED KING. 



253 



have already seen, reserved the right of appointing whom 
he pleased to the crown, although, in the absence of any 
special appointment, it was supposed to descend in the ordi- 
nary course of succession. It is more than probable that 
this destination of the crown of David was known to 
Absalom, and that the attempt to secure it in his father's 
lifetime was made with the design of averting his own exclu- 
sion. Had he been sure of succeeding when his father died, 
he would probably have waited till then, for David was 
already old. At all events, he soon began to affect great 
state, made much display of his chariots and guards, and 
appeared in public with a splendid retinue of fifty men. All 
this pomp the more enhanced the condescension with which 
he behaved to the people, and the interest he took in the 
affairs of the suitors at the royal court. These arts of popu- 
larity, with his handsome person and engaging manners, 
quite won the hearts of the uncliscerning multitude ; and 
when at length he ventured to raise the standard of open 
rebellion, and to proclaim himself king, at Hebron, the people 
flocked to him in crowds, and David was nearly deserted, 
except by his guards and some faithful followers. Confounded 
at this intelligence, David abandoned Jerusalem in haste, to 
proceed to the country beyond the Jordan, where the distance 
would allow him more time for collecting his resources and 
considering his course of action. Deeply humbled at what 
he considered as the punishment of God for his sins, David 
ascended the Mount of Olives, on the upper road to Jericho, 
as a mourner, weeping, barefoot, and with shrouded head. 

3. On his way David was deeply wounded by false intelli- 
gence of the ungrateful desertion of Mephibosheth, the son of 
Jonathan, whom, for his father's sake, he had treated with 
much kindness and distinction, and to whom he had restored 
the lands of Saul. These lands he now too hastily bestowed 
on the treacherous informant, Ziba, who had managed them 
for Mephibosheth. When he afterwards discovered his error, 
and found that it was only his lameness which prevented the 
.son of his friend from following him, Ziba's connections were 
too powerful to allow him to revoke the grant entirely, and 
he directed that the land should be divided between them. 
Among the remarkable incidents of this mournful journey, 



254 Absalom's rebellion and death. 

was the abusive and insulting conduct of a man named 
Shimei, of the family of Saul, who manifested the most un- 
seemly exultation at the forlorn condition of the king. Yet 
the chastened David would not allow his people to avenge 
this wrong. 

4. The fugitives rested themselves in " the plains of the 
wilderness;" but soon crossed the Jordan, in consequence of 
information that Absalom had been advised to pursue them 
with 12,000 men, and smite them before an army could be 
collected. This, in fact, was the best course which Absalom 
could have taken to complete his enterprise at one stroke. 
It was the advice of David's chief councillor, Ahithophel, 
who was renowned in all Israel for his sagacity, and whose 
desertion to Absalom seemed one of the most serious of the 
king's disasters. Nevertheless, Hushai, the friend of David, 
who also had found a place in the council of Absalom, con- 
trived to get this advice rejected hi favour of the very differ- 
ent course recommended by himself. Finding his counsel 
thus neglected, and foreseeing the consequences, the traitorous 
Ahithophel went home and hanged himself. 

5. Meanwhile David fixed his residence at Mahanaim, 
beyond Jordan, where Ishbosheth had formerly held his 
court. When Absalom heard where he was, he followed 
him across the river with a powerful army, under the direc- 
tion of his cousin Amasa. David and his general had not 
been idle, but had collected a force, which, although small 
in, comparison, seemed to men who trusted in the righteous- 
ness of their cause, sufficient for the contest. David divided 
his force into three battalions, and entrusted the command to 
Joab, Abishai, and Ittai ; for the troops refused to allow him 
to risk his own valuable life in the battle. Still feeling all 
a father's unreasoning love for his guilty son, the last words 
of David to his commanders charged them to respect the life 
of Absalom. This charge was but little regarded. The 
army of Absalom was defeated by the better disciplined troops 
of David, and the prince himself fled upon a swift, mule ; but 
as he passed under an oak, the long hair which he so care- 
fully cherished became entangled in the projecting boughs, 
from which he was left suspended. In this situation he was 
found by Joab, who slew him on the spot. His death ended 



DAVID RETURNS TO JERUSALEM. 255 

the war : the rebels dispersed, and went every man to his 
home. The king's joy at the victory was greatly damped 
by the news of his son's 
death. He shut him- 
self up in the chamber 
over the city gate ; and 
the returning warriors, 
who expected the re- 
ward of his presence 
and praise, heard only, 
as they entered, his 
loud and bitter lamen- 
tations for his lost Ab- 
salom. At length J oab 
went to him, and by 
representing the pro- 
bably serious conse- 
quences of disgusting 
the troops by making 
them feel that their 
victory was a crime, he 
induced him to appear 
in public, and give his faithful soldiers the satisfaction they 
had earned. 

6. As the mass of the people had hailed Absalom as king, 
David, with commendable delicacy, abstained from resuming 
the crown as a matter of right ; but resolved to tarry at 
Mahanaim until formally invited back by the tribes. The 
Israelites generally were, by this time, thoroughly ashamed 
of the rebellion, and quite ready to return to their allegiance. 
But the want of unanimity among the tribes, and other cir- 
cumstances, occasioned such delay, that Judah was the first 
to invite the king to resume his throne at Jerusalem. He 
accordingly returned. This seems to have been a wrong 
step ; for the other tribes were offended that he had returned 
on the sole invitation of Judah, without their concurrence ; 
and at length the dissension became so great, that the Israel- 
ites, as distinguished from the Judahites, refused to recognise 
the act, or to acknowledge David as king ; and, appointing 
one Sheba of Benjamin, perhaps of Saul's family, for their 




123. Absalom's Tomb. 



256 



AMASA SLAIN BY JOAB. 



leader, they raised the standard of revolt, with the usual cry 
of civil war — " To your tents, Israel ! " 

7. David, partly with the view of conciliating those who 
had followed Absalom, appointed Amasa his commander-in- 
chief, in the place of Joab. Him he now ordered out in 
pursuit of Sheba ; but as he failed to assemble the forces of 
Judah within the limited time, David, who dreaded delay, 
sent out Abishai with the royal guards. With this force 
Joab went as a volunteer.* While they rested at Gibeon, 
Amasa came up with the force which he had at length got 
together. As he came on, Joab advanced to meet him ; and, 
under the cover of a friendly salute, gave him a mortal stab, 
as he had formerly given Abner. Having thus treacherously 
removed his rival, and confiding in the attachment of the 
troops he had so often led to victory, he assumed the chief 
command, and the soldiers readily, perhaps gladly, followed 
their former general. The fact that they had to deal with 
so experienced a commander as Joab, appears to have helped 
to discourage the partisans of Sheba, who, finding himself 
abandoned by the greater part of his followers, as Joab 
approached, deemed it expedient to withdraw with his few 
remaining adherents into the fortified town of Abel-beth- 
maachah in Naphtali. But when Joab appeared under the 
walls, the inhabitants, to save themselves, threw over to him 
the rebel's head ; and the war being thus ended, Joab re- 
turned to Jerusalem. David detested his conduct, and was 
mortified at his presumption ; but he dared not call him to 
account for the murder of Amasa, or remove him from the 
place which he had assumed. 

8. After these things a famine of three years afflicted the 
people : and as the principles of the theocracy, guaranteed to 
the Israelites prosperity and plenty as long as they continued 
in obedience, every public calamity was justly regarded as a 
punishment for sin. David, therefore, somewhat tardily, sought 
to know the cause of this famine. He was told that, although 
so long after the event, it was a punishment for innocent blood 

* As these persons were all related to the king, it may be well to define the relation- 
ship. David had two sisters, Zeruiah and Abigail. Zenriah was the mother of Joab. 
Abishai, and Asahel (whom Abner slew); and Abigail was the mother of Amasa. They 
were all therefore David's nephews, and cousins of his sons. 1 Chron. ii. 13, 17. 



THE GIBEONITES AVENGED. 



257 



which had been left unatoned, namely, the blood of the 
Gibeonites, whose safety Israel had guaranteed by a covenant 
of peace ; but who had been massacred by Saul, on some pre- 
text or other, in considerable numbers. On learning this, 
David required the remnant of the Gibeonites to name the 
expiation they required ; and they vindictively asked the 
death of seven of Saul's descendants. The king could not 
gainsay them ; and accordingly two sons of Saul by his con- 
cubine Eizpah, and the five sons of Merab, his eldest daughter, 
were yielded up to them. Thus were all the descendants of 
Saul destroyed, except Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, 
whom David had cherished, and now exempted for his father's 
sake. The exposure of the bodies, beyond the day of execu- 
tion, which the Gibeonites demanded, was contrary to the 
habits of the Israelites, and justly repugnant to their feelings. 
Rizpah, the mother of Saul's sons, remained disconsolately, 
night and day, watching the bodies of her children, to protect 
them from the birds and beasts of prey. When this came to 
David's knowledge, he ordered the bodies to be taken down 
and deposited, with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, in the 
family sepulchre. 

9. Now that the Israelites had been weakened by two 
rebellions and by three years of famine, the Philistines deemed 
the opportunity favourable for trying to shake off the yoke 
which they had borne with much impatience. They there- 
fore renewed the war, but were defeated in fom* engagements, 
and finally subdued. Among the Philistines were some 
families of gigantic stature, and in this campaign they brought 
several of Goliath's family into the field. One of them had 
nearly overpowered David ; but he was rescued, and the giant 
killed by Abishai. After this the people would never allow 
David to go to the wars in person, " lest he should quench the 
light of Israel." 

10. The next year David, that he might know the real 
extent of his power, and that all competent Israelites should 
be enrolled for military service, ordered Joab to take a census 
of the adult male population. The schemes of enlarged 
dominion, with a view to which this census was probably 
ordered to be taken, were contrary to that divine policy which 
required Israel to remain a compact and isolated people ; and 

M 2 



258 



AD0NIJAH S REBELLION. 



the enrolment for such purposes seriously infringed the liberties 
of the nation. It also manifested great distrust of the Supreme 
King, who was known to be willing and able to give victory 
in every lawful enterprise, whether by many or by few. On 
these grounds the act was displeasing to God ; and it was 
distasteful even to Joab, who, after a vain remonstrance, pro- 
ceeded to execute the order with great reluctance. The re- 
turn which he made of men twenty years old and upwards, 
was 900,000 in the tribes of Israel, and 400,000 in Judah 
alone, — amounting in all to 1,300,000. By this we see that 
the population had more than doubled since the nation left 
Egypt and entered Palestine. The total numbers may be 
reckoned at considerably more than 5,000,000. When David 
received this account of the numbers of his people, " his heart 
smote him," and he became alive to the heinousness of his 
offence. At that moment the prophet Gad came commissioned 
to offer him the choice of three punishments : — seven years 
of famine — three months of defeat and loss in war — or three 
days of pestilence. He chose the last ; and immediately the 
country was visited with a pestilence which in two days 
destroyed 70,000 men. David then vehemently interceded for 
his people, pleading that he alone had sinned, and praying 
that he and his might alone bear the punishment. His inter- 
cession prevailed, and the plague was stayed. 

11. The eldest surviving son of David was Adonijah, who 
resembled Absalom in comeliness and in ambition. Provoked 
at the prospect of his younger brother Solomon being con- 
sidered heir to the throne, he plotted to secure the crown be- 
fore the king's death, which his age and feebleness shewed to 
be near at hand. He gained over Joab and Abiathar the 
nigh-priest to his cause ; but the other high-priest,* Zadok, 
with the valiant Benaiah, the commander of the guards, and 
the great body of the " worthies," remained faithful to the 
cause of Solomon, and thereby evinced their adherence to the 
great principle of the government, — the supremacy of the 
Divine King, and his right to bestow the crown according to 

* Abiathar will be remembered as the son of Ahimelech, who fled to David after the 
massacre at Nob. He naturally succeeded as high priest ; but Saul gave that dignity to 
Zadok, thereby restoring the pontificate to the older line of Eleazer. When David suc- 
ceeded to both kingdoms,, lie was unwilling to remove either and therefore gave them co- 
ordinate powers. 



SOLOMON PROCLAIMED KINO. 



259 



his pleasure. Having taken all the preliminary measures 
which seemed necessary, Adonijah invited his supporters to a 
splendid feast in one of the suburbs of Jerusalem, near the 
fountain of the king's garden. Here he was proclaimed king, 
with great acclamation, by his adherents. The news speedily 
reached the city, and was communicated to the king by Bath- 
sheba and the prophet Nathan. Now Adonijah was very dear 
to the heart of David ; and it is more than likely that, if left 
to his own feelings, he would have been willing that his eldest 
son should reign. But he was too much alive to the principle 
of the government to consider that he had any will in the 
matter, after the will of the Lord had been declared. He 
therefore immediately issued orders to Zadok the priest, and to 
the officers of the court and army, to take Solomon, and anoint 
and proclaim him king. The prince was immediately mounted 
upon the king's own mule, and escorted by all the court and 
the royal guards to the fountain of Gihon, where he was 
anointed by Zadok with the sacred oil ; when the trumpets 
sounded, and the assembled concourse rent the air with shouts 
of " Long live King Solomon ! " 

12. When Adonijah and his party heard of this prompt 
and decided procedure, they were struck with fear, and 
dispersed to their own homes. Adonijah himself fled to the 
altar, which was a sanctuary, whence none but murderers 
could be taken. Hearing of this, Solomon sent to tell him 
that his safety depended upon his future conduct, and directed 
him to retire to his own house. Soon after, in a general 
assembly of the nation, the election of Solomon was ratified 
by the assent of the people ; and he was again solemnly 
anointed by the high-priest. On this occasion, David gathered 
up the remnant of his declining strength, and addressed the 
convention in a very forcible and touching harangue. He 
took pains to impress upon his audience the true character of 
the government, and its peculiar subservience to the Divine 
King. He then adverted to the temple, which had been so 
long before his view ; mentioned his own extensive prepara- 
tions for it ; urged them to assist Solomon with heart and hand 
in the great work which lay before him ; and recommended 
an adherence to the plans and models which he had provided. 
He concluded with a devout thanksgiving to the Lord for all 



260 



DAVID S DEATH. 



his mercies to him and to the nation. Solomon then ascended 
the throne of his father ; and his accession was celebrated with 
feastings and sacrifices. 

13. On a subsequent occasion, David, feeling his end 
rapidly approaching, sent for Solomon, and earnestly impressed 
upon him the duty of obedience in all things to the Divine King. 
He had now done with life ; and gave it up, at the age of 
seventy years, of which he had reigned forty — seven as king 
of Judah only, and thirty-three as king of all Israel. Amid 
the lamentations of all his people, the remains of David were 
deposited in a splendid tomb, which he had prepared for him- 
self on Mount Zion. 



261 



CHAPTER VI. B. C. 1015 to 975. 



PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

Solomon king 1015 

Adonijah aud Joab slain .... 1015 

Solomon weds an Egyptian princess 1013 

The foundation of the Temple laid . 1012 

The Temple finished 1005 

Solomon seduced to idolatry . . . 97S 

Solomon dies : Kehoboam succeeds 975 

Revolt of the ten tribes .... 975 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. CJ 

Capetus, 7tli king of the Latins . . 996 
Tliersippus, 4th Archon of Athens . 995 

Tadmor built 991 

City of Samos built 9S6 

Shishak (Sheshonk I., Sesonchis), kins 
of Egypt 981 



1. Solomon was nearly twenty years old when he began 
to reign. His natural talents were of the highest order, and 
had been improved by careful education ; he was endowed 
with profound sagacity, quick penetration, and great decision 
of character ; and no man ever possessed in a more eminent 
degree those collective talents and attainments to which the 
ancients gave the name of wisdom. He had not long ascended 
the throne when his sagacity detected the secret traitorous 
designs which Adonijah still entertained. This prince had 
the adroitness to interest Bathsheba, the king's mother, in a 
scheme which he had formed of espousing Abishag, one of the 
wives of the late king, whom he had taken in his latter days. 
No sooner was this named by Bathsheba to Solomon, than he 
recognised in the insidious demand a plan formed by Adonijah 
to accredit his old pretensions ; and as this was a breach of 
the conditions on which his life had been spared, he ordered 
him to be slain. Abiathar appears to have had some part in 
this intrigue ; on which account, as well as for his first defec- 
tion, he was deposed from the joint high-priesthood to the 
rank of a common priest, and ordered to withdraw to his town 
of Anathoth. With some other persons, Solomon dealt ac- 
cording to the last instructions which his father had given 
him. Joab, when he heard what had been done to Adonijah 
and Abiathar, doubted not that his own death was determined, 
and therefore fled for refuge to the altar. But the altar was 
allowed to be no refuge to so old a murderer : he was torn 
thence, and put to the sword by order of the king. This was 
an act of astonishing vigour for so young a ruler, when we 



262 solomon espouses pharaoh's daughter. 

consider the influence of Joab with the army, which had 
secured him complete impunity in the time of David. The 
valiant Benaiah was appointed captain-general in his stead ; 
and Zadok remained the sole high-priest. 

2. Solomon was not unmindful of Shimei, the Benjamite, 
who had cursed David and pelted him with stones when he 
fled from Absalom. David had not found it prudent to punish 
him ; but Solomon was not under the same restraint. He 
ordered him to fix his residence in Jerusalem, and not to leave 
it on any occasion on pain of death. For a time he was 
attentive to this injunction ; but after two years he left the 
city, and went to Gath in pursuit of two runaway slaves, and 
was, on his return, put to death. 

3. Through the conquests of his father and the wise mea- 
sures which he had taken to consolidate his power, Solomon 
was a great king, especially when the extent of his dominion 
is compared with the small dimensions of kingdoms in those 
times. His dominions reached from the Mediterranean to the 
Euphrates, and from the Bed Sea and Arabia to the utmost 
Lebanon. The tributary states were held in complete subjec- 
tion, and being still governed by their native princes, made 
Solomon a " king of kings." The Canaanites who still 
remained in the land, had become peaceable and obedient 
subjects, or useful and laborious servants. His treasures also 
were immense, composed chiefly of the spoils won from many 
nations by his victorious father, and treasured up by him for 
the very purpose of sustaining the magnificence and aggran- 
dizing the kingdom of his son. Solomon sought for an alliance 
becoming his high estate, and found it in a marriage with the 
king of Egypt's daughter. It was a proud thing for Israel 
that their king could in such a matter treat on terms of 
equality with the power which had in old times so long held 
them under the yoke. The Egyptian princess was received 
with great magnificence ; and Solomon lodged her in " the 
city of David," on Mount Zion, until he should build for her 
a superb palace. 

4. During the time of David, in which the tabernacle and 
the ark had been separate from each other, an irregular prac- 
tice had crept in of sacrificing to God and burning incense at 
other places than the tabernacle. The altars for these ser- 



SOLOMON S CHOICE. 



263 



vices were chiefly upon hills covered with trees, and were 
called " high places." As this was also the practice of the 
surrounding heathens, it was very dangerous, and, in fact, 
paved the way for the idolatries into which the Israelites in 
after times fell. It had been strictly prohibited by the law 
of Moses (Lev. xvii. 3-5; Dent. xii. 2-5). The principal 
high place was at Gibeon ; and at one of the religious festi- 
vals Solomon proceeded thither, in solemn pomp, with all his 
court, the officers of the state and army, and the chiefs and 
elders of the people, to render his homage to Jehovah, and to 
offer sacrifices to him. With this homage and with these 
sacrifices God was well pleased ; and the night following he 
manifested himself to Solomon in a dream, and offered to be- 
stow upon him whatever blessing he might choose. The 
young king evinced the wisdom he already possessed, by 
asking an understanding heart to enable him to discharge the 
awful responsibilities that rested on him, in governing the 
numerous people and the various interests under his sway. 
Because he had made so excellent a choice from among all 
the gifts which the Lord of the Universe had to bestow, not 
only was surpassing wisdom given to him, but — what he had 
not asked — glory, and riches, and length of days, were added 
to the gift. His extraordinary sagacity was early shown in 
his judicial decisions, one example of which is given in the 
celebrated case of the two women living together, each of 
whom had a child. One of the children died in the night, 
and the living child was claimed by both the mothers, with 
equal apparent truth and zeal. When the case came before 
the king, he saw there was no way of discovering the real 
mother of the living child, but by an appeal to the truthful- 
ness of maternal affection, and he therefore ordered the living 
child to be cut in two and one half given to each. The 
earnestness with which one of the women entreated that the 
life of the child might be spared, at once discovered the real 
mother. 

5. Solomon had a great taste for magnificence, which he 
displayed in many ways. In the state, he introduced a most 
skilful organization of all its departments, which were severally 
entrusted to men whose abilities had been tried in the time of 
David ; and the splendour and beautiful order of every de- 



264 EXTRAVAGANCE OF SOLOMON'S COURT. 

partment in the court claimed admiration. But the inordinate 
magnificence and extent of all the regal establishments may 
be justly blamed, when we learn that the expenses were too 
great for even his large resources ; so that at leng-th the royal 
profusion could only be supported by such oppressive exac- 
tions upon the people, as in the next reign led to the division 
of his dominion into two kingdoms. Some idea of this extra- 
vagant magnificence may be formed from the fact, that he 
had 4000 stalls or stables for the horses of his various car- 
riages. The provisions required by the court for one day, 
amounted to thirty bushels of fine flour, sixty bushels of com- 
mon flour, ten fat oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and a 
hundred sheep, besides venison and poultry of all descrip - 
tions. A household requiring such quantities of food must 
have consisted of several thousand persons ; but it is likely 
that the royal guards were also supplied from this store. 

6. It is said that Solomon's wisdom greatly exceeded that 
of the wisest men, Jewish or foreign, of his own day; there 
were none equal to him among the people of the east or the 
Egyptians, who were justly famous for then knowledge of 
every useful science. Three thousand proverbs, many of 
which remain to us, embodied his moral sayings and sage re- 
marks on hiunan character. A thousand and five songs, of 
which only the Canticles and 127th Psalm remain, ranked 
him among the first of Hebrew poets ; and his perfect know- 
ledge of all kinds of plants, beasts, birds, and fishes, was 
shown by writings which are supposed to have been lost in 
the Babylonian captivity. 

7. An embassy of condolence and congratulation from 
Hiram, king of Tyre, kept open the friendly relations with 
that king, which David had cultivated. It also led to an 
arrangement under which the king of Tyre engaged to bring 
from Lebanon, and to land at the port of Joppa, the timber 
which Solomon required for the building of the temple. For 
this he was to pay in corn and oil ; for the Tyrians having 
only a small tract of territory, and being chiefly employed in 
commerce and manufactures, obtained their provisions chiefly 
from the fertile lands of Canaan. In return for this, in the 
ordinary course of traffic, the Israelites received the manufac- 
tures of the Phoenicians and the products of foreign lands. 



THE TEMPLE BUILT. 



265 



The timber, when landed at Joppa, was conveyed by the 
Tynans to Jerusalem ; and they also assisted in preparing the 
stones for the building. Three years were spent in these pre- 
parations : and in the fourth year, the foundation of the temple 
was laid, and in seven years the fabric was completed (B. C. 
1005). The temple appears to have been a truly splendid 
structure, and great wealth was consumed in its various uten- 
sils of precious metal, the whole of which were executed by 
Phoenician artists supplied by Hiram. From the connection 
of Solomon with Egypt, it is also probable that he availed 
himself of the talent which, hi every branch of art, that country 
abundantly supplied. To foreigners certainly much of the 
beauty and perfection of the celebrated temple was owing ; 
for the Israelites being chiefly an agricultural people, had but 
little skill in those arts of design and ornament which the 
undertakings of Solomon required. The general plan of the 
temple seems to have much resembled that of the tabernacle ; 
being composed of extensive courts for worship and sacrifice 
in the open air, in front of an oblong building, comparatively 
of small dimensions, but in all its parts rich and elaborate 
beyond description. This was not, like our churches, for the 
use of the worshippers. It was never entered by them ; but 
was the abode of the Divine symbols, which were the same as 
in the tabernacle ; the ark with its hovering cherubim, and 
the Shechinah, or radiant symbol of the Divine presence, being 
within the interior or most sacred of the two apartments into 
which the building was divided. 

8. A high feast was held on the day when the temple 
was dedicated to its destined purpose, and when the sacred 
services commenced. On that day Solomon appeared upon a 
scaffold before the temple, and poured forth a long and most 
sublime prayer, at the conclusion of which the Divine com- 
placency was evinced by "the glory of the Lord," filling 
the whole house, as it had aforetime filled the tabernacle ; 
after which the radiance concentrated over the ark, and there 
rested as the symbol of the Divine presence and occupancy. 
The first victims were also consumed by supernatural fire, 
which was afterwards constantly kept up as the sacred fire of 
the temple. 

9. The remainder of king Solomon's reign is a history 

N 



266 



SOLOMON S COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES. 



rather of peaceful undertakings than of warlike exploits. He 
built a number of splendid palaces, with pleasure-grounds, 
and basins of water. Of these the most celebrated was " the 
house of the forest of Lebanon," all the plate and furniture 
of which seems to have been of pure gold, while in the hall 
hung two hundred golden bucklers, each of which must have 
been worth fifteen hundred pounds, and three hundred smaller 
ones, each worth half the former. There also was the royal 
hall of audience and of judgment, where the king sat publicly 
upon a lofty throne of ivory and gold. Many cities were 
built, others rebuilt, and others fortified by Solomon. Of 
the former the most celebrated was Tadmor in the eastern 
wilderness (B. C. 991), better known by its later name of 
Palmyra, whose splendid ruins excite to this day the admi- 
ration and wonder of travellers. These, however, are not 
the ruins of Solomon's buildings, but of others erected in 
after ages on the same site. 

10. The king also engaged in maritime and inland com- 
merce. Being possessed of Eziongeber, a port on the Ked 
Sea, Avhich opens into the Indian Ocean, he united with king 

Hiram in sending ships 
into the eastern seas, 
which, after an absence 
of three years, returned 
laden with the valuable 
products of distant climes 
— gold, silver, ivory, 
beautiful and costly woods, 
and precious stones; gums, 
spices, and perfumes ; and 
collections of curious 
plants, animals, and birds 
(among which apes and 
peacocks are particularly 
named), which must have ministered much delight to the 
enquiring mind of Solomon. He also carried on a great trade 
in the fine linens, the yarn, the horses, and the chariots of the 
Egyptians ; which he bought by his factors of the Egyptians, 
and sold at an enhanced price to the Syrian nations. From 
these sources, and from the tribute of the subject nations, 




THE QUEEN OF SHEBA VISITS SOLOMON. 267 

vast treasure came into the royal coffers. We are told that 
the commercial voyages alone brought, in one year, no less 
than 666 talents of gold, which some compute at £3^646,350 
sterling. As for silver, it was of no account in his clays; and 
the previously costly wood of the cedar became as common 
as that of the sycamore had been. But most of this prosperity 
was rather the result of a temporary excitement, than of a 
regular development of the national resources. Even the 
commercial enterprises were monopolies of the crown ; and the 
greater part of the wealth arising from all sources went -into 
the royal treasury, and was there absorbed in empty splen- 
dour, spent on foreigners, or consumed in extravagance. We 
are not therefore surprised that, in his later years, when some 
of the sources of supply had declined, while the cost of the 
royal establishment was imdiminished, Solomon was obliged 
to resort to oppressive exactions from his own people, which 
had well nigh ruined the house of David in popular esteem. 
It is true, however, that, taking his reign in the whole, the 
nation was prosperous, as the long continued peace enabled 
the population to increase without check, while every man 
could attend to his lands without distraction. Hence we are 
told that in his clays " Juclah and Israel dwelt safely, every 
man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even 
to Beersheba." 

11. The vast knowledge of Solomon, his profound saga- 
city, and the order and splendour of his court, attracted many 
foreign princes to Jerusalem. The most celebrated of these 
visitors was the queen of Sheba, supposed, on sufficient 
grounds, to have come from southern Arabia ; but who is 
thought by some to have been the queen of Abyssinia, which 
is the firm belief of the Abyssinians themselves to this day. 
The distance from which she came, the costly gifts which 
she brought, and her splendid train, excited much admiration. 
The king satisfactorily solved the " hard questions" by which 
she tried his wisdom ; and all that she heard and saw led 
her to confess that the reality greatly exceeded the scarcely 
credible rumours which had reached her distant land. 

12. Unfortunately, that vain and costly appendage of 
royal state in the east, a large seraglio of women, was 
deemed by Solomon necessary to his magnificence. He had 



268 



SOLOMON SEDUCED TO IDOLATRY. 




no fewer than 700 wives of high family, and 300 secondary 
or concubine wives. Many of these wives were foreigners 
and idolators from the neighbouring nations ; and they, in 
his latter days, drew him astray, not only to participate in 
their acts of homage to their native idols, but to build 
temples to their honour and for their worship, on the hills 
facing Jerusalem, and in front of the Lord's own temple. 
Here he joined in sacrifices to Chemosh or Peor, the obscene 
idol of the Moabites, to Moloch the 
god of the Ammonites, and to Ash- 
taroth the goddess of the Sidonians. 
These doings greatly provoked the 
Divine indignation. The splendid 
endowments of Solomon served the 
more to aggravate his offence ; and 
at length it was solemnly announced 
to him, that since he had broken 
the covenant by which he held his 
12a. Ashtaroth. crown from the Divine King, the 

kingdom should be rent from him, and given to his servant. 
Nevertheless it was added, that, for David's sake, this should 
not be done in his time, but in the time of his son ; and 
that, also for the sake of David, one tribe, that of Judah 
(with which Benjamin had now coalesced), should remain 
under the dominion of his house. 

13. This prophecy was soon after made known by the 
prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam, an Ephraimite, who, as a man 
of activity and talent, had attracted the notice of Solomon, 
and had been by him made overseer of the workmen from 
the tribes of Joseph, employed hi the public service. The 
prophet accompanied the message by the significant act of 
rending his own new garment into twelve pieces, ten of which 
he gave to Jeroboam, and reserved only two for the house of 
David. It was then announced that the dominion over the 
ten tribes was given to him ; and that it should be confirmed 
to his descendants, if he and they maintained their allegiance 
to the Divine King. This soon came to the knowledge of 
Solomon, whose attempts to destroy the destined rival of his 
son, taught Jeroboam the prudence of leaving the country. 
He retired into Egypt, where he was well received by the 



DEATH OF SOLOMON. 



269 



king, Shishak, and protected by him till the death of Solo- 
mon. The repose of the king's latter days was also disturbed 
by the revolt of the Edomites and the Syrians of Damascus. 
There is reason to* hope, that these just punishments opened 
the eyes of Solomon to the enormity of his offences, and that 
his last days were repentant. He died about the sixtieth 
year of his age, after a reign of forty years. B.C. 975. 

14. Solomon may have left many sons, but the only one 
known to history is his "successor, Kehoboam, who was born 
the year before his father's accession, and was therefore forty- 
one years of age when he ascended the throne. 

15. The tribes were now determined to relieve themselves 
from the burdens, which, in the later years of his reign, had 
been imposed upon them by Solomon. They therefore re- 
called Jeroboam from Egypt ; and, with him at their head, 
applied to Eehoboam for redress of the grievances under which 
they had laboured. It is evident that the ten tribes were 
predisposed to separate themselves from Juclah, and establish 
an independent government. Their sentiments were in- 
fluenced chiefly by those of Ephraim, which proud and power- 
ful tribe could not brook that the sovereignty should be in 
the great rival tribe of Juclah. They were, therefore, in all 
probability, rather glad than sorry when a rough refusal of 
redress from Rehoboam gave them a reasonable pretext for 
revolt, and for abandoning their allegiance to the house of 
David. Accordingly, they openly revolted, and made Jero- 
boam their king. 

16. As this separation was in accordance with the inten- 
tions of the Divine King, to punish the house of David for 
the guilt of Solomon, the Sacred Oracle forbade Rehoboam 
to pursue the design which he had formed of reducing the 
revolted tribes to obedience by force of arms. 



BOOK V. 



CHAPTEE I. Israel from B.C. 975 to 918. 



JUDAH. 

B.C. 



ISRAEL. 



B. C. 



GENERAL HISTORY. 



B. C. 



Rehoboani . . . . 975 

Ahijah 958 

Asa 955 

Azariah, Higli-Priest . 958 



Jeroboam I. . . 
Nadab . . . . 
Baasha . . . 
Elali . . . . 
Zimri and Oniri 
Omri dies . , 



954 
953 
930 
909 
918 



Phorbas, 5th Arclion of 



Athens 954 

Osorkon L, King of 



Esjypt 945 

Bennadad, King of Syria 940 
Lycnrgns born . . . 926 
Takelothe, King of Egypt 905 



1. Jeroboam made the ancient city of Shechem, in his 
own tribe of Ephraim, the seat of his government ; and he 
had also a summer residence at Tirzah in Manasseh. Al- 
though released from its dependence on Judah, the new king- 
dom, which was called, by way of distinction, the kingdom of 
Israel, was still under allegiance to the Divine King, and 
bound, as much as Judah, by all the obligations of the an- 
cient covenants. In both, therefore, we are to view the con- 
tinued operation of the theocratical system, for the purpose of 
preserving the knowledge of the true God upon the earth. 
Both the kingdoms prospered or were humbled in proportion 
as their conduct advanced or hindered that great object. 

2. Jeroboam, whatever may have been his original in- 
tentions, soon renounced the peculiar institutions of Judaism. 
Although the kingdoms were separated, there remained, ac- 
cording to the law, but one temple and one altar, one eccle- 
siastical establishment, for both. To the place of that temple 
and that altar all the descendants of Jacob were still abso- 
lutely required to repair three times every year, and that 
place was Jerusalem, the metropolis of the rival kingdom. 
Fearing that this might ultimately lead to the re -union of the 
tribes, and to the extinction of his separate kingdom, Jero- 
boam most presumptuously and wickedly dared to abrogate 



JEROBOAM I. 



271 



the unity of the nation (which might still have been main- 
tained under two kingdoms), by forbidding his subjects to re- 
pair to Jerusalem, to render their homage to the Divine 
King. He alleged that the distance made the journey bur- 
densome to them ; and, therefore, he established two places, 
towards the opposite extremities of his own kingdom, to which 
they might resort. These were Bethel in the south, and Dan 
in the north. Having himself resided in Egypt, and recol- 
lecting the readiness with which the Israelites had, in the 
wilderness, set up a figure of the Egyptian ox-god (Mnevis) 
as the symbol of the true God, he now reverted to that su- 
perstition, and set up " golden calves" at Dan and Bethel, as 
objects of religious service and homage. He did not deny 
the God of Israel, and turn to other gods ; but for political 
objects, he prevented the access of his subjects to the true 
symbols of the Divine Presence, and caused them to worship 
Him under forbidden and degrading symbols. 

3. To their very great honour, no priests or Levites could 
be found who would connect themselves with this abomina- 
tion. After a vain attempt to stem the evil, the Levites 
abandoned their cities and possessions, and removed into the 
kingdom of Judah. The priests were already there, for their 
towns were all within the territories of Judah. Jeroboam 
could not induce any respectable persons to arrogate the 
priestly office, and, therefore, the lowest and most unprincipled 
of the people became the fitting priests of the golden calves. 
As to the high-priesthood he took that office to himself, ac- 
cording to the practice in Egypt and other countries, where 
the sovereign was also supreme pontiff. As such, he officiated 
at high festivals, one of which, the Feast of Tabernacles, he 
presumed to change from the seventh to the eighth month. 
These innovations were so shocking to every mind well im- 
bued with the principles of the theocracy and the true reli- 
gion, that, by degrees, a large proportion of the most valuable 
men in Israel removed into the sister kingdom. By this and 
other accessions, the kingdom of Judah soon became, in real 
strength and power, less unequal to that of Israel, than the 
proportion between two and ten tribes would seem to indi- 
cate. Indeed, Judah was already a formed kingdom, with 
well-organized resources and establishments, and with much 



272 



DEATH OF JEROBOAM. 



treasure ; so that the balance of power may even be deemed 
to have inclined in its favour. 

4. Jeroboam was not allowed to remain long unwarned. 
He was officiating as high-priest at Bethel, at his feast of 
tabernacles, when a prophet appeared and foretold that a fu- 
ture king of Judah, Josiah by name, should profane and de- 
stroy the very altar at which he was then burning incense. 
The power by which the prophet spoke was evinced by the 
instant withering of the hand which the king stretched forth 
to lay hold on the prophet ; and not less by its being instantly 
restored at that prophet's prayer. This, however, had no 
abiding effect upon Jeroboam ; he persisted in his evil ways, 
which at length brought ruin upon his house. This doom 
was announced to his wife by the prophet who had anointed 
him for the kingdom. Ahijah was now blind with age ; but 
when the queen, disguised, went to consult him about a be- 
loved son who was dangerously ill, he knew her, and not only 
told her that the child should die, but that the dynasty of 
Jeroboam should soon be extinguished ; and that the Israel- 
ites, for their iniquities, should, in the end, be carried away 
as captives beyond the Euphrates. After a reign of twenty- 
two years Jeroboam died, and was succeeded by his son Na- 
dab, in the second year of Asa, king of Judah. 

5. Naclab reigned only two years, during which he ad- 
hered to the system of his father. He was then murdered by 
a person called Baasha, of the tribe of Issachar, who usurped 
the crown and put to death the whole family of Jeroboam. 

6. Baasha' s government was as offensive to God as it was 
oppressive to the people, great numbers of whom sought quiet 
in Judah. Displeased at this, Baasha engaged in a sort of 
skirmishing warfare with Asa, and took Eamah of Benjamin, 
which he began to fortify with the view of controlling the 
intercourse between the two kingdoms. But he was called 
off to defend his own country from the Syrians, whose assist- 
ance had been bought by the king of Judah with gold from 
the temple. Persisting in evil, Baasha incurred for his house 
the doom which had been inflicted on that of Jeroboam. He 
died after a reign of twenty- three years. 

7. Elah, his son, reigned little more than one year, when 
he was murdered at a feast by Zimri, a military commander, 



TIBNI CHOSEN KING. 



273 



who then mounted the throne. The army, which was in the 
field against the Philistines, no sooner heard of this than they 
declared in favour of their own commander Omri, who im- 
mediately led them against his rival. He was at Tirzah ; 
and when Omri arrived, Zimri, despairing of the result, with- 
drew to his haram, which he set on fire, and perished, with 
all. that belonged to him, in the flames. 

8. The people, like the army, had refused to recognize the 
murderous Zimri as king, and had chosen one for themselves 
named Tibni, in whom Omri now found another competitor. 
It was not until after six years of civil war that Omri mas- 
tered this opposition and remained undoubted king (B. C. 923.) 
The most memorable act of his reign was the foundation of 
a new metropolis in a very advantageous situation (B. C. 918.) 
He called it Shemron or (as afterwards softened in the Greek 
into Samaria), after the name of the person (Shemer) to 
whom the ground had originally belonged. Omri reigned 
eleven years, and died in the thirty-ninth year of Asa, king 
of Judah. 



274 



CHAPTEE II. Judah from 975 to 889. 



JUDAH. 

B.C. 

Rehoboain .... 975 

Abijah 958 

Asa 955 

Jehoshaphat .... 914 

Dies . . 889 

Johanan, high-priest of 
the Jews . . . . 896 



ISRAEL. 

B. C. 

Jeroboam 1 975 

IS 7 adab 954 

Baasha 953 

Elah 930 

Zimri and Omri . . 929 

Ahab 918 

Ahaziali 897 

Jeliorani 896 



EGYPT. 

E.C. 

Orsokon II. , king . . 908 
Shisliak (Sheshonk) II. 890 
to about 860 : after 
which a blank till the 
reign, of Bocchoris, 
who ascended the 
throne in . . . . 812 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

B.C. 

^legacies, 6th Archon of Athens 923 

Hesiod, the poet 915 

Homer flourished about 907 

Diogenetes, 7th Archon of Athens 893 



1. In Judah, the conduct of Eehoboam was without re- 
proach during the three first years of his reign. After that 
he, and his subjects with him, fell into the same gross ido- 
latry and abominable practices, which had proved the ruin of 
the Canaanites. To punish them for this apostacy, Grod al- 
lowed an invasion of the land by Shishak, king of Egypt, 
(B.C. 970), who took some of the fortified towns, entered 
Jerusalem, and carried off the treasures of the temple and the 
palace. As this produced repentance, the remainder of the 
reign was prosperous. Eehoboam reigned seventeen years. 

2. Abijah, the son of Eehoboam by a grand-daughter of 
Absalom, succeeded his father. He was an active and mar- 
tial prince, and he resolved to endeavour, by force of arms, to 
bring back the ten tribes to obedience. He raised a large 
army for that service ; and was met by Jeroboam with an 
army twice as large. Before the battle, Abijah harangued 
the opposing force from Mount Zemaraim. He asserted the 
indefeasible right of the house of David to reign over all the 
tribes ; he alleged that, in the revolt, undue advantage had 
been taken of Eehoboam's inexperience ; and he gathered 
confidence of success from the adherence of Judah to the 
theocratical institutions, which Israel had so heinously for- 
saken. This reliance gained him the victory. Jeroboam 



ASA DEFEATS THE CUSHTTES. 



275 



lost two-thirds of his immense army, and never recovered the 
strength he then lost. Abijah was thus enabled to advance 
his frontier, by taking from Israel several border towns, 
among which we find the name of Bethel, where was one of 
the golden calves. We are not, however, told that he de- 
stroyed that idol ; and it would appear that the town itself 
was ultimately recovered by Israel ; perhaps on the death of 
Abijah, which soon followed, after a short reign of three years. 

3. Asa, who then ascended the throne, was a prince of 
great piety and virtue. He ruled quietly for ten years, which 
he employed in the reformation of the abuses of former reigns. 
He destroyed all idols and their altars, and employed all the 
means in his power to restore the pure worship of God, and 
re-establish the principles of the theocratical government. 
His own adhesion to these principles, which required implicit 
confidence in the Divine King, was severely tried by an in- 
vasion of the country by a vast host of the Cushites (called 
Ethiopians), under Zerah their king (B.C. 941). Strong in 
the confidence that it was equally in the Lord's power to give 
the victory with few as with many, the pious Asa advanced 
with a comparatively small force, to his southern frontier, to 
meet this immense host. In that confidence, the Cushites 
were totally overthrown before him, and the victory gave him 
the abundant spoil and numerous cattle of this pastoral horde. 
This repulsion of a torrent which had threatened to over- 
whelm all the neighbouring states, and which must have been 
regarded with general apprehension, could not but enhance 
his credit in the adjoining countries. 

4. Five following years of profound peace he employed, 
under the advice of the prophet Azariah, in pursuing his re- 
formations with a still more vigorous and less sparing hand. 
Even his own grandmother, the guardian of his youth, was 
banished from court on account of her idolatries. These re- 
forms put the kingdom in such advantageous contrast with 
that of Israel, that the well disposed subjects of that king- 
dom removed in great numbers into Judah. Alarmed at this, 
Baasha of Israel, took the measures which have been already 
mentioned to check the communication between the two king- 
doms. The conduct of Asa, in hiring the Syrians with the 
gold of the temple, to make a diversion in his favour, did not 



276 



JEHOSHAPHAT KING. 



become his character, nor evince that confidence in the Great 
King which he had on more trying occasions exemplified. 
He also imprisoned the prophet Jehn, the son of Hanani, who 
reproved him for his conduct on this occasion. His latter 
years were also stained by several acts of oppression ; and 
when afflicted with a grievous disease in the feet, he mani- 
fested more confidence in his physicians, and less in God, 
than was considered becoming. He died after a reign of 
forty- one years, and was honoured by his subjects with a 
magnificent funeral ; for the Jews, like other Orientals, were 
in the habit of making known, by funeral testimonials, the 
estimation in which they held their deceased kings. 

5. The excellent father was succeeded by the still more 
excellent son, Jehoshaphat. The first act of his reign was 
to remove the high places and the groves, which Asa had 
left untouched. Then, becoming convinced that the most 
effectual means of preventing the return of the corruptions 
which had with so much difficulty been rooted out, was to 
provide for the suitable instruction of the people, in the third 
year of his reign, he sent out, through all the cities of Judah, 
a number of chiefs or " princes," whose rank and influence 
secured respect and attention to the priests and Levites who, 
with them, were to instruct the people in the law of Moses. 
The king himself made a tour through his kingdom to see 
that due effect was in this matter given to his intentions. 

6. Having made this the first object of his care, Je- 
hoshaphat found leisure to examine and reform the abuses 
which had crept into various departments of the state, and to 
develope the civil and military resources of the country. 
His cares were rewarded by the increasing numbers and pro- 
sperity of his people, by their happiness, and by the exemp- 
tion from war which his manifest preparedness for it secured. 
All the men fit to bear arms were regularly enrolled, and 
were found to be no less than 1,160,000 — being not materi- 
ally fewer than the number returned for all the tribes (except 
Levi and Benjamiu) in the time of David. Of these a cer- 
tain proportion was kept in service, to act as royal guards at 
Jerusalem, to garrison the fortresses, and to protect the 
northern frontier from the kings of Israel. The effective 
order which the king thus established throughout his king- 



JEHORAM MARRIES AHAb's DAUGHTER. 277 

dom procured for him the respect of foreign states, while 
Edom was retained in its subjection, and the Philistines dared 
not withhold their tribute. 

7. The grand error of Jehoshaphat's reign was the 
alliance which he contracted with the idolatrous Ahab, king 
of Israel, who thought it safer to have the king of Judah for 
a friend than an enemy, and therefore paid court to him. 
The alliance was soon cemented by a marriage between 
Ahab's daughter Athaliah, and Jehoram the son of Jehosha- 
phat. In consequence of this connection a friendly inter- 
course was established between the two kings ; and on a 
visit paid by Jehoshaphat to the court of Ahab he allowed 
himself to be persuaded to accompany him in an expedition 
to recover Kamoth-Gileacl from the Syrians. In that action 
Ahab was killed, and Jehoshaphat narrowly escaped with his 
life to Jerusalem. On his arrival he was severely reproved 
by the prophet Jehu for so injurious and improper a connec- 
tion. The king testified his repentance in the best possible 
way by prosecuting his reformations with renewed vigour. 
A personal tour through the kingdom evinced the sincerity 
of his endeavour to bring his subjects into a right state of 
feeling towards the God of their fathers. In this tour the 
king discovered many abuses and irregularities in the admini- 
stration of justice ; and he therefore established local courts 
in every important town, with a right of appeal to the supe- 
rior courts at Jerusalem. To all these courts competent 
judges were appointed ; and they were dismissed to their 
duties with a plain and forcible charge from the king. 

8. The next undertaking of Jehoshaphat was an attempt 
to reopen the maritime traffic which Solomon had carried on 
by way of the Eecl Sea. But he unfortunately allowed Aha- 
ziah, the king of Israel, to become a partner in the enterprise, 
in consequence of which the Lord refused to prosper the 
design, and the ships were destroyed by a storm almost as 
soon as they had left the port of Ezion-Geber. Ahaziah 
wished to renew the attempt ; but Jehoshaphat refused, and 
appears to have abandoned the project altogether. 

9. Very soon after this, Jehoshaphat obtained a very 
signal deliverance from a formidable and quite unexpected 
invasion from the south, by a large force composed of Moab- 



278 



jehoshaphat's death. 



ites and Ammonites, together with some Arabian tribes whom 
they had engaged in the enterprise. They came by the way 
of Edom, and had arrived as far as En-gedi before Jeho- 
shaphat was well aware of their presence. He had no re- 
source but to throw himself unreservedly upon the covenanted 
protection of the Great King ; and this confidence was re- 
warded by the promise of deliverance. In fact, the Judahites 
had no occasion to draw a sword ; for there arose such a spirit 
of discord among the invaders, that after the Ammonites and 
Moabites had quarrelled with and destroyed their Arabian 
auxiliaries, they repeated the same process between them- 
selves ; so that the people under Jehoshaphat had nothing to 
do but collect the spoil which they left. This was so large 
that it took three days to gather it together ; after which they 
returned with great joy to Jerusalem, and before they entered 
the city held a solemn thanksgiving in the valley of Shaveh. 

10. The king of Judah was probably induced, by his re- 
sentment at the invasion of the Moabites, to give his aid to 
the king of Israel, Jehoram, in the attempt to re-establish 
over that people the dominion of Israel, from which they had 
revolted on the death of Ahab. The allies got into a posi- 
tion of imminent danger, and their deliverance was declared 
to be solely owing to the divine favour towards Jehoshaphat. 
B. C. 895. 

11. Not long after this Jehoshaphat died, having lived 
sixty years, and reigned twenty-five. He was undoubtedly 
the greatest of the Hebrew kings since Solomon, and the 
most faithful since David. B. C. 889. 



279 



CHAPTER III. Iskael from B.C. 918 to 897. 



Ahab, king 918 

The great drought begins .... 910 

Return of rain — plenty 906 

Benhadad's invasion 901 

Nabotll slain : and Ahab doomed . . 899 

Ahab slain in battle at Ramoth-Gilead 897 



Jehoshaphat, king 



1. Oimiwas succeeded by his son Ahab, the events of 
whose reign are related at greater length than those of any- 
other king of Israel. His reign was for the most part con- 
temporary with that of Jehoshaphat in Judah. In both their 
public and private character there never was a greater con- 
trast than between these two kings. We have seen how 
zealously Jehoshaphat laboured to restore and establish the 
knowledge and the worship of the true God among his people. 
But Ahab exceeded all former kings in his abominations. 
His predecessors had been content to make religion an imple- 
ment of human policy, by the unwarrantable worship of God, 
under the profane symbol of the golden calves ; but Ahab 
betook himself to the worship of foreign gods instead of the 
God of Israel. The preference appears to have been given 
to Baal, the great sun-god of the Phoenicians ; which is to be 
ascribed to the influence of Ahab's wife Jezebel, who was a 
daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre, — an unscrupulous and 
wicked woman, who was very zealous for her national idol. 
She soon procured his worship to be established in the land 
of Israel ; and as the religious sentiments of the people had 
been corrupted by the worship of the golden calves, it is not 
wonderful that they very readily transferred their homage to 
an idolatry pleasant to the natural depravity of man. Jehovah 
was not formally rejected or abandoned ; but Baal received 
at least equal worship from the multitude, and greater from 
the court. 

2. To stem the tide of corruption, and to prevent the 
total apostacy of Israel, God raised up a man endued with 



280 ELIJAH FORETELLS THE GREAT DROUGHT. 

extraordinary gifts and powers, ardent zeal, and stern virtues, 
such as the time required. This was Elijah, the Tishbite,* 
by far the greatest prophet, both in word and deed, which 
had appeared since Moses. He is introduced abruptly, as 
boldly announcing to Ahab in person the national punishment 
of a long- drought, and consequent scarcity, not to be removed 
but by his own intercession. This last condition made it 
necessary for the prophet to withdraw himself from the pre- 
sence and solicitations of the king. When, therefore, the 
drought began to be felt, in the eighth year of Ahab's reign, 
Elijah retired beyond the Jordan, and concealed himself in a 
cavern beside the brook Cherith, where Providence directed 
ravens to furnish him with regular supplies of bread and 
meat, morning and evening. When the brook was dried up 
for want of rain, the prophet crossed the country to Sarepta, 
a town in the kingdom of Jezebel's father, to which also the 
drought and famine had extended. He remained at this 
place two years, lodging with a poor widow and her son ; and 
during all that time of famine, they were supported through 
the miraculous inexhaustion of a handful of flour and a little 
oil, the only remaining food of the poor woman when the 
prophet met with her. 

3. Three years had Elijah remained in obscurity — one 
year by the brook Cherith, and two in Sarepta. During 
this time Israel suffered greatly; and Ahab had sought for 
the prophet in every quarter, convinced that the remedy was 
in his hands. God, intending now to give rain, and to re- 
move the famine, ordered the prophet to return to the land 
of Israel. On the way, he met Obadiah, comptroller of the 
king's household, who had been sent out to seek forage for 
the cattle. This person, at the risk of his own life, had 
sheltered many holy persons in a cave, and supplied them 
with victuals, during a recent persecution by Jezebel. Elijah 
sent Obadiah back to announce his reappearance to Ahab, 
who then came out to meet him. When the king saw him, 
he said, "Art thou he who troubleth Israel?" But the pro- 
phet sternly retorted the charge, alleging that the apostacy 
of himself and his people was the cause of the national suffer- 

* So called, from his native place, which was probably Thebez, a town of Manasseh 
beyond Jordan. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE PRIESTS OF BAAL. 



281 




ing. He further required the king to convene a general 
assembly of his priests and people at Carmel. 

4. In that great assembly there were no fewer than 450 
priests of Baal. Elijah proposed that these priests should 
call upon Baal, and that he shoidd call upon the name of 
Jehovah, and that the Deity who should make it appear that 
he had heard their prayers, by consuming with fire from 
heaven the sacrifices to be offered, should be acknowledged 
as the true God. It was impossible for the priests of Baal 
to decline so fair a trial, especially as 
fire was the congenial element of the 
god they worshipped. Accordingly, they 
prepared their altar, and laid out upon 
it their sacrifices, and continued, with 
frantic invocations and lacerations of 
their flesh, to ask the required sign, 
until above half the day was spent ; but 
no sign in heaven or earth answered . 
to their cry. Then Elijah rose, and, 
after some biting ridicule of the im- 126 " Fersian Devoiee " 
potent god and his votaries, proceeded to repair an old altar, 
which had formerly been erected there. Upon this he placed 
his sacrifices, and called solemnly upon the God of Israel to 
manifest his power. He was instantly answered by fire from 
heaven, — so intense, that it consumed not only the victims 
and the wood, but the very stones and dust of the place, and 
absorbed the water which had been poured profusely on the 
whole. At this astounding display of miraculous power, the 
people fell on their faces, crying, " The Lord, he is the God ; 
the Lord, he is the God." At the instance of the prophet, 
they evinced the sincerity of their conviction, by seizing the 
priests of Baal and destroying them all. The prophet then 
went to the top of Carmel, and prayed for rain. A small 
cloud arising from the sea was the first answer to his prayer ; 
and that welcome sign was soon followed by abundant and 
heavy rain. 

5. Learning that Jezebel had vowed his death, on account 
of the slaughter of Baal's priests, the prophet withdrew to 
Beersheba, where he left his servant, and proceeded alone 
across the desert to Horeb, " the Mount of God." Here, 

n 2 



282 



BENHADAD S INVASION. 



where the law had been originally delivered, the Lord mani- 
fested himself to his servant — not in the whirlwind, the 
earthquake, or the fire — but in "a still small voice," which 
spoke comfort to his now desolate sonl, and encouraged him 
by the assurance, that whereas he deemed that he was him- 
self the only worshipper of God left in Israel, there were 
indeed seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. 
He was then directed to return home ; and on the way he 
met with Elisha, ploughing in the field. Knowing that this 
person was his destined successor, he intimated the fact by 
casting over him his mantle. Elisha then went with him, 
and remained in attendance upon him. 

6. Now Israel was invaded by Benhadad, king of Syria* 
of Damascus, at the head of a numerous army, with which he 
invested Samaria. The kingdom was too much exhausted 
by the recent famine to allow Ahab to make any effectual 
resistance. But although he was unworthy of any help, yet 
God, for the glory of his own great name, sent a prophet to 
promise him victory, and to instruct him how to act. Benhadad 
was in consequence defeated, and with difficulty saved his 
life by flight. Yet the next year he made another invasion 
with a more powerful force, hoping to bring the Israelites to 
action in the plain ; for he had arrived at the foolish conclu- 
sion, that the God of Israel (to whom he ascribed his previous 
defeat) was indeed a God of the mountains, but not a God of 
the valleys. To correct so dishonouring a notion of his power, 
the Lord again gave the victory to Ahab. But instead of 
following up this success, Ahab concluded a league of amity 
with Benhadad, which was so displeasing to God, that a pro- 
phet was sent to announce the evils which would befal his 
house, through the neglect of this opportunity of breaking 
the Syrian power. 

7. It was not until nine years after the transactions at 
Mount Carmel, that Elijah and Ahab had another interview, 
which was the last. The prophet came to denounce the 
Divine vengeance against him and his family, for killing 
Naboth under the forms of law, in order to obtain possession 
of a vineyard which that person had refused to part with. 

* The " kings of Syria," in the Scriptural history, were the kings of that portion of 
Syria of which Damascus was the capital. 



ahab's EXPEDITION AGAINST THE SYRIANS. 283 

For his great wickedness the prophet declared that his pos- 
terity should be cut off; and that, for this iniquity in par- 
ticular, dogs should lap his own blood in the place where 
they lapped the blood 
of Naboth ; and that 
dogs should eat the 
flesh of Jezebel under 
the wall of Jezreel. 
On hearing this dread- 
ful denunciation, the 
king manifested some 
signs of humiliation 
and contrition, in con- 
sequence of which the heaviest part of this doom was post- 
poned from his own time to that of his successor. 

8. The last act of Ahab's reign was the expedition against 
the Syrians, in which Jehoshaphat took part, as noticed in 
the preceding chapter. When that excellent prince was in- 
vited to go with the army, he was not satisfied with the 
assurances of success which the "false prophets" of Ahab 
gave in great abundance ; but wished to see " a prophet of 
the Lord beside." Ahab therefore sent for a prophet named 
Micaiah, whom he nevertheless declared that he hated, be- 
cause he did not prophesy good concerning him, but evil. 
Micaiah verified this when he arrived, by telling him that if 
he went, he would never return alive. On this the indignant 
king commanded him to be kept in prison until his return 
"in peace ;" which the unflinching prophet persisted would 
never happen. The kings went against the Syrians ; but 
before the battle began, Ahab, secretly alarmed at the pre- 
diction of Micaiah, invidiously proposed to Jehoshaphat that 
he should take the chief command, and appear in his royal 
robes, while he himself would wear an ordinary dress. He 
hoped to favour his own escape, by exposing the king of 
Judah. In fact, Jehoshaphat being taken for the king of 
Israel, was in great danger of his life ; but Ahab escaped not. 
An arrow shot at random by a Syrian soldier penetrated the 
joints of his coat of mail, and inflicted a mortal wound. He 
immediately retired from the field to have the wound dressed ; 
but fearing to discourage his men, quickly returned, and re- 




127. Dog. 



284 



AHAB SLAIN. 



mained in the field till lie died in his chariot. When this 
was known, the army was commanded to disperse. The 
washing of Ahab's chariot in the pool of Samaria, to which 
city his body was taken, caused a modified fulfilment of the 
prediction that dogs should lick his blood as they had licked 
the blood of Naboth; but this doom was again, and more 
literally (as to the place), accomplished in the person of his 
son. 




285 



CHAPTER IV. Judah from B. C. 889 to 809. 



JUDAH. 

B. C. 

Jehoram or Joram, 

king ... 889 
Ahaziah, king . . 885 
Athaliah, queen . 884 
Joash or Jehoash, 

king ... 878 
Zechariah, high priest 850 
Amariah, high priest 846 
Amaziah, king . 838 
Amaziah dies . . 809 



ISRAEL. 

b. c. 

Jehoram or Joram, 

king 896 

Jehu, king . . 884 
Jehoahaz, king . 856 
Jehoash or Joash, 

king ... 839 
Jeroboam II., king 823 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Phidon, kin? of Argos 869 
Carthage founded 8G9 
Pherecles, 8th Archon 

of Athens . . 863 
Ariphron, 9 th Archon 

of Athens . . 846 
Thespieus, 10th Archon 

of Athens . . 826 
Bocchoris (Pehor, Bak- 

hor), king of Egypt 812 



1 . In the kingdom of Judah, Jehoshaphat was succeeded 
by his son Jehoram or Joram, who has before been mentioned 
as having married Ahab's daughter, Athaliah. He was 
thirty-eight years of age when he began to reign, and proved 
a very degenerate son of an excellent father. The first act 
of his reign was the murder of his six brothers, and some of 
the chief persons of the nation. He was also persuaded by 
Athaliah to subvert the worship of the Lord, and to introduce 
the corruptions which prevailed in the sister kingdom. For 
this, the prophet Elisha, by letter, denounced the Divine ven- 
geance upon him and upon his house. This was speedily 
executed. The Edomites threw off the yoke, as had long 
before been foretold (Gen. xxvii. 40), and Libnah, on his 
southern frontier, revolted. The Philistines harassed him on 
the west ; and he was invaded from the south by the Ara- 
bians, who plundered his country and palaces, carrying into 
captivity all his wives except Athaliah, and all his sons ex- 
cept Ahaziah, the youngest. Lastly, to fill up the measure 
of his pmrishments, he was afflicted with a horrible disease in 
his bowels, of which he died after a torturing illness of two 
years and a reign of eight. 

2. Ahaziah, called also Jehoahaz, who then ascended the 
throne, was twenty-two years old. He was as bad as his 
father, and associated as much by character as by birth with 
the house of Ahab. He joined his uncle Jehoram, the 



286 



JOASH PROCLAIMED KING. 



reigning king of Israel, in another effort to recover Kamoth- 
G-ilead from the Syrians. After they had returned to Jezreel, 
in consequence of a wound which Jehoram received, both the 
kings were slain in the conspiracy of Jehu, who was commis- 
sioned to exterminate the house of Ahab. The servants of 
Ahaziah were allowed to convey his body to Jerusalem, for 
burial in the royal sepulchre. He reigned only one year. 

3. When Athaliah saw that her son was dead, she resolved 
to take the sovereign power into her own hands. She there- 
fore destroyed all of the royal family whose present or pros- 
pective claims stood in the way of her ambition. Xo one 
escaped, except her grandson Joash, the son of Ahaziah, an 
infant of a year old. He was hidden from her rage, with his 
nurse, in the chambers of the temple, by his aunt Jehosheba, 
the wife of the high-priest. Athaliah now ruled Judah with 
a high hand. She established the worship of Baal through 
the land, and persecuted the faithful few who still adhered to 
the worship of Jehovah. Thus six years passed ; when 
Jehoiada, the high-priest, resolved to endure her usurpation 
and profligacy no longer, but to produce Joash, then seven 
years old, to the people as their king. Having engaged the 
Levites to support the design, a time was fixed for its execu- 



tention of Athaliah, who repaired in haste to the temple. A 
glance revealed to her the hateful truth, and she turned 
away with a cry of "Treason!" But no one moved in her 




tion. On that day the 
avenues and gates of the 
temple being strictly 
guarded by well-armed 
Levites, the young prince 
was carried into the inner 
court of the temple, under 
a strong escort of priests, 
and was there anointed 
and proclaimed king of 
Judah. 



128. Ancient Egyptian Trumpets. 



4. The blast of the 
trumpets, and the shouts 
and acclamations of the 
people, attracted the at- 



JOASH ASSASSINATED. 



287 



favour, not even when, by order of Jehoiada, the guards 
seized her and led her forth to inevitable death. The high- 
priest now solemnly charged the king and people to renew 
the national covenant with God, and to serve and worship 
him only. He then led the willing people to destroy the 
temple and idols of Baal, whose priests and prophets were 
also slain. In reading the account of these transactions, we 
must bear in mind that, under the theocracy, idolatry was 
not merely a religious error, but high treason against the 
Supreme Head of the commonwealth. 

5. While the young king acted under the direction of 
Jehoiada, he reigned well, and order was restored to the king- 
dom. But after the death of that eminent person, he fell 
under the influence of bad advisers — idolaters at heart — by 
whom he was seduced from the worship of the true G-od to 
those abominations through which the nation had already 
suffered so deeply. This provoked the Divine anger, of which 
he was repeatedly warned by the prophets. At length, when 
the king and people were celebrating a festival in the temple, 
Zechariah, the son and successor of Jehoiada, remonstrated so 
strongly against his conduct, that the indignant king com- 
manded Zechariah, his cousin, and the son of his benefactor, 
to be stoned, even in that sacred place ; and his cruel and 
unjust command was but too readily obeyed by the apostate 
multitude. Many evils fell upon Judah for these iniquities. 
The land was invaded by the Syrians, who ravaged the country 
and plundered Jerusalem. Many of the inhabitants, as well 
as of the king's court and household, were put to the sword, 
and the invaders withdrew with immense booty to Damascus. 
Shortly after this, Joash, being afflicted with grievous diseases, 
was assassinated by two of his attendants, after a reign of 
forty and a life of forty-seven years. 

6. Amaziah, the son of Joash, was twenty-five years old 
when he succeeded his father. He began his reign well, and 
re-established the worship of Jehovah ; but he, like all his 
predecessors, continued the unsanctioned practice of offering 
sacrifices in the high places. When he was settled in the 
throne, he brought the murderers of his father to condign 
punishment ; but he shewed his respect for the law (Deut. xxiv. 
16) by sparing their children, contrary to the general prac- 



288 



AMAZIAH DEFEATS THE EDOMITES. 



tice of the East. Afterwards, about the twelfth year of his 

reign (B. C. 827), he 
undertook to reduce to 
= obedience the Edomites, 
L who had revolted in the 
f % ( reign of his father. He 
j • got together 300,000 
men for this expedition : 
r ; and not deeming this a 
,$•'1 sufficient number, hired 
100,000 warriors from 
II the king of Israel, for 
ILL 100 talents of silver. 

This was displeasing to 
p- God, who ordered him, 
by a prophet, to send 
them back again ; and 
129. Ruined Temple, Petra. he manifested a justsense 

of his position, as the 
viceroy of the Divine King, by his compliance, which involved 
the loss of the money he had advanced. The Israelites 
were very far from being pleased at their dismissal, and tes- 
tified their resentment by the ravages and barbarities which 
they committed on their way home. Amaziah was re- 
warded for his obe- 
dience by a com- ' 
plete victory over ■aHjHte-^'i. 
the Edomites, of f;J .X- - 

whom he slew ten 
thousand in battle ; 
and ten thousand 
more whom he had 
taken prisoners, he 
unjustifiably des- 
troyed, by casting 
them .down from 
the cliffs of their 

native mountains. 130. p e tra, from above the Amphitheatre. 

He took the metro- 
polis, Selah, and changed its name to Joktheel. This is, in 






MURDER OF AMAZIAH. 



289 



all probability, the lately discovered Petra, whose marvellous 
excavations have been regarded with much admiration. 

7. The savage cruelty of Amaziah to the captive Edomites 
was not the only evil connected with this expedition ; for, 
having brought away with him the idols of Edom, he, with 
wonderful infatuation, set them up as objects of religious 
homage at Jerusalem ; and the services of God's temple were 
once more forsaken or eclipsed. After repeated warnings, 
his doom went forth from Grod, and its execution speedily fol- 
lowed. Puffed up with his victory, over Edom, he formed 
the wild project of bringing the ten tribes under obedience to 
the house of David, and provoked Joash, the king of Israel, 
to hostilities, notwithstanding his endeavour to avoid them. 
In the first action the army of Amaziah was completely routed ; 
he was himself taken prisoner and carried in triumph to his 
own capital, which was taken, and the fortifications demolished. 
The rapacious conqueror stript even the temple of its trea- 
sures ; but at his departure he left Amaziah in possession of 
his dishonoured crown. The disgrace which Amaziah had 
brought upon the nation was so intolerable to his own sub- 
jects, that a powerful conspiracy was formed against him, and 
he was killed at Lachish, to which place he had fled for safety 
(B. C. 809). He reigned twenty-nine years. 



290 



CHAPTER V. Israel from B.C. 897 to 771. 



ISRAEL. 

B.C. 

Ahaziah. kinsr . . . 897 
Translation of Elijah . 896 
Jehoram or Joram, king 896 
Jehu, king .... 884 
Jehoahazjang . . . S56 
Jekoash, king . . . 839 
Jeroboam Li., king . 823 
Interregnum .... 783 
Zechariab and Shallum, 

kings 771 

The "prophets Jonah, 
Amos. Hoshea, flourish 
in the time of Jero- 
boam II. — Isaiah be- 
gins in the last year 
of Uzziah. 



JUDAH. 

b. c. 

J ehoram, king . . . 889 
Ahaziab, king" . . . 886 
Athaliah, king . . . 885 
Joash or Jehoash, king 878 
Amaziah, king . . . 838 
Lzziah or Azariah, king 809 
ilenahem, king . . 770 



GEXEBAL HISTOEY. 
I B.C. 

'Hazael. king of Syria 884 
, Benhadad 1I„ km? of 
Syria . . . . . S36 

Kingdom of Macedon 
begins 814 

J onah's prophesv asainst 
Nineveh . "... 800 

Kingdom of Lydia be- 
gins 797 

Monarchy ends in Co- 
rinth 778 

So. Sabaco or Sabakoph, 
king of Egypt . . 773 



1. Ahab was succeeded, in Israel, by his son Ahaziah, 
who adhered to the abominations which his father had added 
to those of Jeroboam. The chief events of his reign were 
the revolt of the Moabites, and his unfortunate alliance with 
Jehoshaphat in the attempt to recover the maritime traffic by 
the Red Sea. Being greatly injured by a fall from the lat- 
tice of an upper chamber, Ahaziah sent messengers to consult 
the oracle of Baal-Zebub, the fly-god of Ekron, respecting his 
recovery. The messengers were intercepted by Elijah the 
prophet, who sent them back, and afterwards went himself, 
to denounce, as a punishment of his impious abandonment of 
the God of Israel, and his resorting to foreign idols, that he 
should rise no more from the bed on which he had lain down. 
Accordingly he died, after a reign of two years. 

2. Having no sons, Ahaziah was succeeded by his brother 
Jehoram or Joram. He removed the foreign and recent ido- 
latries ; but would not interfere with the golden calves of 
Jeroboam, probably on account of the political considerations 
connected with their worship. The first year of this reign 
was distinguished by one of the most extraordinary events in 
Biblical history, — the translation to heaven of the prophet 
Elijah, who was taken away by a whirlwind in a chariot and 
horses of fire. Elisha was present ; and on him the mantle 



BEXHADAD INVADES SAMARIA. 



291 



and the power of his master devolved. This was soon proved ; 
for the Jordan, when smitten by the prophetic mantle, opened 
to give him passage, as it had before done to Elijah ; at 
his word the bitter waters of Jericho were made sweet ; 
and, soon after, his curse brought bears from the wood to 
destroy some young men who mocked at the translation of 
Elijah and insulted his successor. By these signs Elisha, 
although a man of different temperament and habits, became 
known to all Israel as one invested with the spirit and power 
of Elijah. 

3. The beginning of Jehoram's reign was prosperous ; 
for, as Elisha declared, on account of Jehoshaphat having 
joined him in the enterprise, his army was, by a special inter- 
position of Providence, delivered from circumstances of great 
danger, and enabled to subdue the Moabites, who had revolted 
in the preceding reign. In this campaign, the king of Moab, 
when besieged by the allies in his capital, and pressed to ex- 
tremities, offered up in sacrifice his eldest son, upon the wall 
of the city, hoping thus to render his idols propitious. Hor- 
ror-struck at such a sight, the allies raised the siege and re- 
turned home. Elisha also returned to Samaria, where, in his 
prophetic capacity, he wrought several signal miracles, which 
gave him a great and useful influence with the people. 

4. The partial reformations with which Jehoram com- 
menced his reign, were not the result of decided principles. 
They were, therefore, soon abandoned, or not carried out ; 
and both king and people speedily relapsed into the former 
idolatries. This was punished by a new invasion by the 
Syrians under their king Benhadad. He subdued the whole 
country to the metropolis, Samaria, which he could only hope 
to reduce *by famine, and to which, therefore, he laid siege. 
The famine and attendant miseries which were experienced 
in Samaria during this siege defy description. The extremity 
of hunger at length became so great, that every kind of edible 
substance, however unusual or unwholesome, was devoured ; 
and some women were known to have eaten the flesh of 
their own children. When the king heard of this he rent 
his robes with horror and anguish of soul, and disclosed the 
penitential sackcloth which he wore next his skin. But he 
was still as far as ever from a right mind. His indignation 



292 JEHU PKOCLAIMED KING OF ISEAEL. 

turned against Elisha, whom he supposed to have the power 
to avert these evils ; and he swore that he should be put to 
death that day. Aware of this intention, the prophet refused 
to admit the king's messenger into the house he occupied. 
Jehoram himself followed, perhaps to countermand the order 
he had given ; and to him the prophet announced an imme- 
diate deliverance, and a superabundance of provisions in 
Samaria on the following day. This seemed incredible to 
some of those who heard the announcement. But the night 
following it was found that the Syrians had raised the siege 
and fled away in great alarm, leaving every thing behind 
them. They had miraculously been made to hear a noise of 
a vast host of chariots and horses, which led them to con- 
clude that the Israelites had purchased relief from the 
neighbouring states ; hence their panic and its consequences. 
The delivered and famished citizens rushed upon the forsaken 
camp, in which they found rich spoils and great abundance 
of food. 

5. Towards the end of this reign, the king of Syria, 
Benhadad, was secretly murdered in his sick-bed by Hazael, 
one of his chief officers, who then usurped the throne. Soon 
after this, Jehoram determined to make another effort to re- 
cover Kamoth-Gilead from the Syrians; and, as we have 
seen in the previous chapter, persuaded Ahaziah, the king of 
Judah, to go with him. The king of Israel was severely 
wounded and obliged to leave the army and retire to Jezreel, 
and was soon followed by Ahaziah. Long before this, when 
in Horeb, Elijah had been commissioned to anoint, as king 
of Israel, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, who was to execute the 
doom of extermination upon the house of Ahab. This charge 
he had delayed to execute, and it now therefore devolved 
upon Elisha. Now, Jehu was one of the generals left in 
charge of the military operations before Kamoth-Gilead after 
the king had departed. One of the "sons of the prophets" 
was sent to anoint him there, and to charge him at once to 
execute his commission as the Lord's avenger upon the house 
of Ahab. Jehu was popular with the army ; and when the 
officers heard of this appointment they hailed it with ac- 
clamations and immediately proclaimed him publicly as king 
of Israel. They then followed Jehu to Jezreel, whither, 



EXTIRPATION OF THE FAMILY OF AHAB. 293 

with his usual promptitude, he determined to proceed at once 
before any others could convey the tidings. When his ap- 
proach was discovered from the walls of that city, Jehoram, 
quite ignorant of these transactions, and being impatient 
to know whether he returned from the war in triumph or 
defeat, went forth to meet him, accompanied by the king of 
Judah. But when they met in the fatal field of Naboth, 
after a few bitter words Jehu slew him, and his body was 
left unburied in the open field. Ahaziah of Judah, being of 
the house of Ahab by his mother Athaliah, was also slain ; 
but his body was conveyed for interment to Jerusalem. 

6. As Jehu entered Jezreel, the queen-mother Jezebel 
presented herself, royally arrayed, at a window of the palace ; 
but at the command of Jehu, she was cast down by her own 
servants, and dashed to pieces, and trodden under foot by the 
horses. It was found, not long after, that her body had been 
devoured by dogs, according to the prediction of Elijah. The 
rest of Ahab's family, seventy in number, who were at 
Samaria, were killed, and their heads sent to Jehu by the 
men in authority there, in evidence of their obedience to the 
new king. After he had rooted out all of the doomed race 
that were in Jezreel, he proceeded himself to Samaria, and 
extirpated all who bore affinity to the family. The establish- 
ment at Samaria for the service of Baal, — temple, idol, and 
priests, — were totally destroyed by Jehu ; and he denounced 
a similar fate against whoever should attempt to revive what 
he had overthrown. The consequence of this severe pro- 
ceeding was, that the idolatry of Baal never again gained 
head in Israel ; although idolatry itself was far from being 
destroyed. Indeed, Jehu made no attempt to interfere with 
the golden calves ; and, altogether, his zeal, although effective 
and vehement in operation, only led him to do what coincided 
with his own interest or humour. For the completeness 
with which he had accomplished his avenging mission, it 
was promised to Jehu that his dynasty should endure for 
four generations. The defects of his obedience probably 
prevented a more extended duration ; but still his family sat 
on the throne above a hundred years, which is longer than 
the rule of any other dynasty in Israel. The result of the 
war east of the Jordan was, that Hazael proved victorious, 



294 JEHOAHAZ JOASH JEROBOAM H. 

and deprived Israel of all its possessions on that side the 
river. J elm reigned twenty-eight years. 

7. He was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz, who also ad - 
hered to the schismatical worship and institutions of the 
golden calves. For this the Syrians were allowed to extend 
their power to the west of the Jordan, and so to prevail, that 
at length the whole force left to the king of Israel consisted 
of no more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 in- 
fantry. Jehoahaz reigned seventeen years. 

8. Joash, his son, then ascended the throne. Soon after 
he visited the prophet Elisha when on his deathbed, and was 
encouraged by the dying prophet, who assured him of three 
successive victories over the Syrians. He accordingly ven- 
tured to rise against them, and succeeded in expelling them 
from his dominions. He also repulsed the Moabites, who 
invaded his territories. These successes procured for troubled 
Israel a few years of tranquillity and peace. Joash reigned 
sixteen years. 

9. Jeroboam II. then succeeded his father. He was as 
bad as most of his predecessors ; and the condition of the 
Israelites was daily becoming more depressed. The country 
was successively invaded by the Syrians, Moabites, Ammo- 
nites, and Edomites ; who, however, were severally defeated 
and driven off by Jeroboam, encouraged by the prophet 
Jonah (b. c. 823). Jeroboam reigned forty-one years. Dur- 
ing this reign the Lord began by his prophets to warn the 
Israelites of the doom of captivity and dispersion, which their 
crimes would speedily bring down upon them. The prophets 
were Hosea, Amos, and Jonah. 

10. The reign of Jeroboam was followed by an inter- 
regnum of eleven years, occasioned probably by the infancy 
of his son Zechariah. It was at this period that the pro- 
phet Jonah was sent on his reluctant mission to Nineveh, of 
which an interesting account is given in the book that bears 
his name. During the interregnum, the country fell into 
such a state of anarchy and confusion, that at length the 
remedy was adopted of calling Zechariah to the throne of his 
fathers. 

11. Zechariah, the last king of the race of Jehu, wielded 
the sceptre of Israel only six months. He was not equal 



JONAH AMOS KOSEA. 



295 



to the emergencies of the times, and was put to death by 
one Shallum, who usurped the government. Thus endured 
as promised, and ended as foretold, the dynasty of Jehu. . 

12. During the period embraced by this chapter, the 
prophets Jonah, Amos, and Hosea, nourished and prophesied. 
Jonah appears to have lived in the time of Jeroboam II. ; 
he was a native of Gath-hepher, in Zebulon. The book 
which bears his name is occupied by a narrative of his mis- 
sion to Nineveh, to warn that great city of an impending 
destruction, which was averted by the repentance and humi- 
liation of the inhabitants. Amos belonged to the same time : 
he was a dresser of sycamore fruit, and began to prophesy at 
Bethel ; but being driven thence by Amaziah, the high- 
priest of the golden calf, he retired to Tekoah in Juclah, and 
found employment as a herdsman. It is from this place that 
his written prophesies are elated. They are replete with 
images drawn from the objects in rural life, with which his 
avocations made him conversant: and their object is to de- 
nounce the destruction of the surrounding nations; to alarm 
the negligent by the declaration of national punishments; 
and to hold forth comforting promises of the future Messiah. 
Hosea lived at the same time with Amos, but appears to have 
survived him. Little is known of his history; but he is 
supposed to have been of the kingdom of Israel, as his de- 
nunciations of vengeance, mixed with promises of mercy, are 
chiefly directed against the iniquities into which the ten 
tribes had fallen. 



296 



CHAPTEE VI. Judah from 809 to 696. 



JTJDAH. 

B.C. 

Uzziah or Azariah, king 809 
Jotham, kiug . . . 757 
Ahaz, king .... 741 
Hezekiah,"king . . . 725 
Hezekiah dies ... 696 
Ahitub II., high-priest 800 
Zadok II., high-priest 771 
The prophets Isaiah, 
Maham, Micah, and 
Habakkuk, nourish 
after L T zziah. 



ISBAEL. 

B.C. 

First Interregnum . 783 
Zechariah and Shallum, 

kings 771 

Menahem, king . . 770 
Pekahiah, king ... 760 
Pekah, king .... 758 
Second Interregnum . 738 
Hoskea, king . . . 729 
Samaria taken ... 721 



GENERAL HISTOBT. 

B.C. 

Agamestor. 11th Ar- 
"chon of Athens . . 800 

^schylus, 12th Ar- 
chon of Athens . . 778 

.Era of the 1st Olym- 
piad 776 

Ephori commence in 
Lacedemon . . . 760 

Decennial Archons he- 
gin at Athens . . . 754 

Rome founded . . . 753 



1. In the kingdom of Judah, Uzziah, otherwise called 
Azariah, was but five years old when his father was slain. 
He was sixteen before he was formally called to the throne : 
and it is disputed by chronologers, whether we should count 
the fifty-two years of his reign from the beginning or from 
the end of the eleven intervening years. In the first half of 
his reign, this king behaved well, and was mindful of his 
true place as viceroy of the Divine King. He accorclingly 
prospered in all his undertakings. His arms were successful 
against the Philistines, the Arabians, and the Ammonites. He 
restored and fortified the walls of Jerusalem, and planted on 
them engines of defence, for discharging arrows and great 
stones ; he organised the military force of the nation into a 
kind of militia, composed of 307,500 men, under the com- 
mand of 2600 chiefs, and divided into bands liable to be 
called out in rotation ; for these he provided vast stores of all 
kinds of weapons and armour, — spears, shields, helmets, breast- 
plates, bows, and slings. 

2. Nor were the arts of peace neglected by king Uzziah : 
he loved and fostered agriculture ; and he also dug wells, and 
constructed towers in the desert, for the use of the flocks. 
At length, when he had consolidated and extended his power, 
and developed the internal resources of his country, Uzziah 
fell. His prosperity engendered the pride which became his 
ruin. In the twenty-fourth year of his reign, incited pro- 



KING AHAZ'S PASSION FOR IDOLATRY. 297 

bably by the example of the neighbouring kings, who united 
the regal and pontifical functions, Uzziah, irnmindful of the 
fate of Dathan and Abiram, dared to attempt the exercise of 
one of the principal functions of the priests, by entering the 
holy place to burn incense at the golden altar. But, in the 
very act, he was smitten with leprosy, and was thrust forth 
by the priests. He continued a leper all the rest of his life, 
and lived apart as such, — the public functions of the govern- 
ment being administered by his son Jotham, as soon as he 
became of sufficient age. His whole reign was fifty-two 
years, being, with the sole exception of Manasseh's, the longest 
in the Hebrew annals. In this reign Isaiah began to pro- 
phesy in Judah. 

3. Jotham was a meritorious prince, and prospered ac- 
cordingly. He re- 
pelled an invasion of 
the Ammonites, and 
laid them under a 
yearly tribute ; and 
he built various 
cities, castles, and 
towers, in different 
parts of his domi- 
nions. Besides the 
time that he acted 
as regent during the leprosy of his father, Jotham reigned 
sixteen years in Jerusalem. 

4. Ahaz, then twenty years old, ascended the throne. 
He proved an unworthy son of a good father, being equally 
forgetful of his allegiance to the Lord as his King, and of his 
reverence to him as his God. He apostatised not only to 
the idolatries of the surrounding heathen, but to that of the 
golden calves. He erected images and altars to various idols 
in different parts of Jerusalem, and adopted all the horrid 
rites by which their worship was celebrated. So intense was 
the passion of this prince for idolatry, that it rather resembled 
the insatiate craving of a drunkard than the reverence of a 
worshipper. The Syrian idolatry appears to have been that 
which he most admired; for he introduced the idols and 
altars of that country, and altered the temple and its ser- 




131. Castle. 



298 REUBEN, GAD, AND MANASSEH SENT AWAY CAPTIVE. 

vices after the model of those of Damascus. At length he 
shut up the sacred building altogether. To punish him for 
these crimes, his kingly state was brought very low. In the 
early part of his reign, a formidable confederacy was formed 
against him by Pekah, king of Israel, and Kezin, king of Syria, 
with the fixed intention of dethroning the house of David, 
and of bestowing the crown on some person whom we only 
know as " Tabeal's son." In this war, Eezin stripped Judah 
of its external territories, and carried away great numbers of 
Jews as captives to Damascus. Pekah was equally success- 
ful : he slew in one day 120,000 men of Judah, and carried 
away 200,000 as captives to Samaria. But he was induced 
to treat them well, and to send them back again, at the in- 
stance of the prophet Obed and other persons of influence, 
who refused to hold their brethren in bondage, and were in 
this supported by public feeling in Israel. This shews that, 
after all, the separation had not produced an exasperated 
state of feeling between the nations. After this, the allies 
besieged Jerusalem, but were unable to take it ; while the 
general distress was aggravated by the incursions of the 
Edomites on the south and the Philistines on the west, who 
took several cities and villages in the low country, and settled 
in them. 

5. In this extremity, Ahaz sought the assistance of Tig- 
lath-pileser, the king of Assyria, to whom he sent an embassy, 
declaring himself his vassal, and bearing a subsidy of all the 
sacred and the royal treasures. Glad of a pretext for inter- 
ference, Tiglath-pileser readily promised the assistance thus 
required. Accordingly, he defeated and slew the king of 
Syria, and took possession of his dominions; he also made 
himself master of all the Hebrew possessions beyond Jordan, 
and sent away captive, into Assyria and Media, the three 
tribes — Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.* Ahaz visited the 
Assyrian king at Damascus, to congratulate him, and to 
render him homage. He found, however, that although 
temporarily relieved from an imminent danger, he had little 
cause to rejoice in the result. He had become the tributary 

* There was only half of Manasseh beyond Jordan; but the king of Assyria com- 
pleted the tribe for captivity, by adding the other half which was west of the Jordan. 



KING HEZEKIAH. 



299 



of a foreign power; and instead of a rival, he had now a 
powerful and overbearing master for his neighbour. Little 
is known of his future reign, except that he persisted in his 
old courses, aud lived, it would seem, under the odium of the 
whole nation for having been the apparent cause of the 
captivity into which three tribes of Israel had fallen. When, 
therefore, he died, after an inglorious and disastrous reign of 
sixteen years, he was refused a place in the royal sepulchres, 
although a grave in Jerusalem was allowed him. In this 
reign Micah delivered the prophesy contained in the book 
which bears his name. 

6. Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, was twenty-five years old 
when he ascended the throne. In all respects his character 
was the very reverse of that of his father, entitling him to 
rank as one of the very best kings of David's line ; indeed, 
the Scriptures seems to give him the preference to them all 
(2 Kings, xviii. 5). The characteristics of a good king 
under the Hebrew system of government have been so often 
mentioned, that it is scarcely needful to repeat that they con- 
sisted in a faithful obedience to the revealed will of God — 
first, in his general character, as Creator and sole Lord of 
the Universe ; secondly, in his more particular character, as 
the God who had made Israel his chosen people, and to whom, 
therefore, he was a national God, as distinguished from the 
national gods of the heatheu around ; and, thirdly, in the 
still more intimate character of the actual King and political 
Head of the nation, and who, as being incapable of error, 
exacted, and was entitled to, the most unlimited and confiding 
obedience. In all these characters Hezekiah understood 
him ; and hence he also understood his own true position in 
the state. The first act of his reign was to open and purify 
the temple, and to extirpate all the idolatries which his 
father had sanctioned or introduced. He even went so far 
as to destroy the brazen serpent of Moses, which had been 
preserved as a memorial, the people having manifested a dis- 
position to burn incense to it as a holy relic. 

7. This conduct of Hezekiah was rewarded by prosperity 
in all his undertakings. He subdued the Philistines; and at 
length ventured to withhold the yearly tribute which his 
father had agreed to pay to the Assyrians. Shalmaneser, the 



300 



SENNACHERIB INVADES JTTDAH. 



son and successor of Tiglath-pileser, was too much occupied 
in other quarters to pay much attention to Hezekiah; hut in 
the sixth year of his reign, he carried away into captivity the 
flower of the seven tribes of Israel on the west side of Jordan, 
thus completing the ruin of the ten tribes. This event ap- 
pears to have made a salutary impression on Judah, and pro- 
bably afforded much aid to Hezekiah in his reformations. 
These were more radical than any former kings, however 
well-disposed, had thought necessary; for Hezekiah not only 
abolished idolatry and restored the worship of God, but he 
revived the national observances, which had been altogether 
neglected in former reigns, — such as the passover, which he 
celebrated at Jerusalem with greater solemnity than had been 
observed since the time of Solomon. Not only his own sub- 
jects, but the desolate remnants of the ten tribes were invited 
to this great feast; many of them came, but others mocked 
and refused. 

8. At length the Assyrians, having subdued the small 
nations between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, found 
leisure to call Hezekiah to account for his arrears of tribute. 
Shalmaneser was dead, and had been succeeded by his son 
Sennacherib, who invaded Judah with a mighty host. Heze- 
kiah, disappointed of assistance which he had expected from 
Egypt, did not consider it safe to attempt to oppose him; but 
made his intercessions, and offered to furnish any tribute 
which the Assyrian might think proper to impose. He ac- 
cordingly paid the heavy ransom of three hundred talents of 
silver and thirty talents of gold, although this obliged him 
not only to exhaust the sacred and the royal treasures, but to 
strip off the gold which covered the doors and pillars of the 
temple. Sennacherib took the money, and went towards 
Egypt, which he intended next to invade; but on the way he 
changed his mind, and resolved not to leave unbroken in his 
rear a power so well inclined to ally itself with the Egyptians. 
He, therefore, took the strong towns of the south; and, while 
he laid siege to Libnah and Lachish, sent his general Eab- 
shakeh against Jerusalem. The language which this man 
used in summoning Hezekiah to surrender, was in the highest 
degree offensive and blasphemous. Hezekiah, with humble 
confidence, referred the matter to God, and was answered by 



DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIAN HOST. 



301 



the promise of deliverance. Accordingly, a rumour reached 
Sennacherib that Tirhakak the Ethiopian, king of Upper 
Egypt, was marching with an immense army to cut off his 
retreat; so that he deemed it prudent to abandon his opera- 
tions, but not without sending a boastful and threatening 
letter to Hezekiah respecting his future intentions. But the 
very night after, the Assyrian host of 180,000 were destroyed 
by " a blast," which may be understood to have been the 
simoom, or hot pestilential wind which sometimes blows in 
those regions. The baffled tyrant hastened home to Nineveh, 
where he behaved with great severity to the captive Israelites. 
But his career was short ; for, seven weeks after his return, 
he was slain by his own sons while worshipping in the temple 
of Nisroc, the great idol of the Assyrians. The parricides 
fled, and left the throne open to their younger brother Esar- 
haddon. 

9. The same year Hezekiah was taken ill, apparently 
with the plague; and was warned by the prophet Isaiah to 
prepare for death. But 
he so fervently and de- 
voutly prayed for his 
recovery, that the pro- 
phet was sent back 
with a second message, 
promising a prolonga- 
tion of his life for fifteen 
years. To assure him 
that his recovery was 
indeed miraculous, and 
not " a chance," and 
to give him confidence in the promise, a token was given in 
The going backward of the sun's shadow ten degrees, as 
measured by the sun-dial of Ahaz, which was probably some- 
thing of the same kind as the architectural dial at Delhi, 
which is also used as an observatory. 

10. The great loss which the Assyrians had sustained in 
Palestine, enabled the governor of Babylon, Merodach-bala- 
dan, to declare himself independent ; and he naturally de- 
sired to form amicable relations with the monarch in whose 
dominions the Assyrian power had been so greatly disabled. 




302 



SACRED WRITERS, 



To congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery, and to inquire 
concerning the attendant miracle, were, however, the osten- 
sible objects of the embassy which the Babylonians sent to 
Jerusalem. Highly nattered by such an embassy from so 
distant a quarter, Hezekiah forgat his usual discretion, and to 
convince the ambassadors of his importance, and that he was 
a desirable ally, he made to them a very ostentatious display 
of his treasures and armouries. Because he had indulged in 
this vainglory, instead of referring all his power and great- 
ness to that Divine King who had cared for and protected him 
and his people, the Lord was displeased; and the prophet 
Isaiah was commissioned to warn him, and to humble him 
by the intimation that the day was coming when all the 
treasure which he and his fathers had laid up should be spoil 
for the Babylonians, and when his descendants should be 
servants in the palace of the king of Babylon. The remainder 
of his own reign, however, which lasted for twenty-nine years, 
was peaceful and prosperous. 

11. Sacred Writers. — The prophet Joel is generally sup- 
posed to have delivered his predictions during the reign of 
Uzziah ; but his whole history is perfectly unknown, and it 
is even uncertain whether he belonged to the kingdom of 
Judah or that of Israel. In nervous and animated language, 
he endeavours to awaken the people to repentance, by an- 
nouncing the devastation of their fields, and consequent 
famine, as the punishment of their sins. In the reign of 
Hezekiah, several eminent prophets flourished, some of whom, 
however, had begun to prophesy before his reign. At the 
head of them, and indeed of all the prophets, stands Isaiah. 
We know little of him, except that he was the son of one 
Amoz, and that he discharged the prophetic office in the 
reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, before the 
last of whom he probably died; although there is Jewish 
tradition which alleges that he survived to the time of Man- 
asseh, by whose order he was sawn asunder. His prophetic 
ministry, therefore, extends over the whole period which also 
embraced the prophets Amos, Hoshea, Joel, and Micah. His 
extensive predictions embrace every matter in which the Jews 
or then* neighbours were interested. They are delivered with 
marvellous sublimity of thought and language, especially in 



SACRED WRITERS. 



303 



those portions in which he foretells the advent of the Messiah, 
and the circumstances attending- his birth, his ministry, his 
death, and the ultimate glory of his kingdom. Micah pro- 
phesied in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He 
was a native of Morasthi, a small town in the southern part 
of Judah ; and this is all we know of him. His prophesies 
relate to both the kingdoms, which he invites to repentance 
by threatenings and promises. He also spoke of the Messiah, 
and named Bethlehem as the place of his birth. Nahum ap- 
pears to have prophesied in the time of Hezekiah, and not 
long after the subversion of the kingdom of Israel by Shal- 
manezer. The principal object of his prophesy is to declare 
the future downfall of that great Assyrian power by which 
Israel had lately been desolated, and to which Judah was 
then tributary. 



304 



CHAPTEK VII. B.C. 771 to 721. 



ISRAEL. 

B. C. 



Shallum 771 

Menahem 770 

Pekaiah 760 

Pekah 759 

Second Interregnum . 739 

Hoshea 730 

Samaria taken . . . 721 

INalmm the prophet . 713 

Micah 750 

JUDAH. 

Jotham 757 

Ahaz 741 

Hezekiah 725 

Dies 696 



ASSYRIA. 

B.C. 

New Dvnasty . . . 821 

Pul or Belus II. . . 790 

Invades Israel . . 770 

Tiglath-pileser . . 747 

Invades Israel . . 740 

Shalmaneser . . . 729 

BABYLON. 

Nabonassar .... 747 

Nadius 733 

Chmzirus .... 731 

Jugaeus 726 

Merodach-baladan . 721 



These are viceroys under 
Assyria, up to and be- 
yond this time. 



EGYPT. 

B.C. 

Sebechon, or Sheebek 723 
Tirhakah (Ethiopian) 710 

GENERAL HISTORT. 

Tatius, king of Rome . 746 
First recorded eclipse of 
the moon, March 19th 720 



1. In Israel, Shallum did not long retain the power he 
had acquired by the death of Zechariah, the last of Jehu's 
house. He was in his turn assassinated by Menahem, about 
a month after he ascended the throne. 

2. But the act of Menahem was not sanctioned by public 
opinion, and the nation generally refused to acknowledge his 
authority. The land was thus distracted by internal commo- 
tions, when the Assyrians first made their appearance in 
these parts, under Pul then king, the father of Tiglath-pi- 
leser. This conqueror was advancing to invade Israel, when 
Menahem made submission to him, and, by the payment of 
one thousand talents of silver, procured his assistance against 
his refractory subjects. Menahem exercised with great bar- 
barity the power he had thus acquired by foreign help ; and 
the heavy annual tribute which he had engaged to pay the 
Assyrians in some degree compelled him to extort large sums 
of money from the people. The kings of Israel had no sa- 
cred treasury to draw from, like those of Judah ; and in 
eastern countries, where there is no regular system of finance, 
extraordinary demands are met by the exaction of large con- 
tributions in money from those who are supposed to be in pos- 
session of wealth. Israel was thus in a most miserable con- 



JERUSALEM TAKEN BY SHALMANESER. 305 

dition. The land became impoverished ; the people were in 
a state of exasperation ; and the Assyrians, having so largely 
profited by the invasion of Israel, were ready to avail them- 
selves of any pretext for repeating the experiment. The 
state of religion and morals corresponded with this external 
condition. With the rapid growth of idolatry, and the ne- 
glect of that religious system which was the true glory of the 
nation, the people lost all love for the good and the beautiful, 
and gave themselves up to the grossest abominations that the 
heart of man can conceive. It was evident that the nation 
was ripening fast for that destruction which the prophets had 
foretold. After a troubled reign of ten years, Menahem died. 

3. Pekahiah, his son, reigned two years, and was then 
put to death by Pekah, the commander of the forces. 

•4. Pekah then ascended the throne. The principal 
events of this reign were those which arose from the alliance 
of Pekah with Rezin, king of Syria, against Ahaz, king of 
Judah, as related in the preceding chapter. Pekah was vic- 
torious in this war, which induced Ahaz to apply to Tiglath- 
pileser, the son of Pul, king of Assyria, who came and chas- 
tised the belligerents into quietness, after which he removed 
the tribes beyond Jordan to Media and Assyria. After a 
reign of twenty years, Pekah was slain by Hoshea. 

5. Ten years of the most cruel anarchy elapsed before 
Hoshea was able to establish himself on the throne. About 
this time the Egyptians became seriously alarmed at the pro- 
gress of the Assyrians in their neighbourhood ; and So or Sa- 
baco, the king of Egypt, adopted the policy of procuring 
employment for them elsewhere, to avert their attention from 
his own country. To this end he induced Hoshea in Israel, 
and Hezekiah in Judah, by insincere promises of support, to 
hold back the tribute they had paid to the Assyrians. This 
soon brought Shalmaneser, the son of Tiglath-pileser, with a 
mighty host into Palestine. Having easily subdued the 
country, he advanced to lay siege to the metropolis, in which 
Hoshea had shut himself with the remnant of his forces. It 
was not taken until the third year, and in the interval the 
inhabitants endured great privation and distress. At length 
it fell ; and Shalmaneser extinguished the kingdom of Israel, 
and sent Hoshea in chains to Nineveh. Thus perished the 
o 2 



306 



SETTLEMENT OF THE SAMARITANS. 



kingdom of Israel, which was annexed to the Assyrian crown 
under an Assyrian governor, after it had endured, as a separate 
state, 271 years, under seventeen kings. 

6. The king of Assyria adopted the policy which appears 
to have been usually followed in those times with regard to 
such countries or provinces as the conqueror designed to in- 
corporate with his own dominions. The flower of the nation, 
composed of all who were distinguished for their rank or 
wealth, for their abilities or personal qualifications, and for 
their knowledge of arms and useful arts, were taken away to 
the region beyond the Euphrates, in which the three tribes 
carried off by Tiglath-pileser were already settled. Their 
place was partly supplied by the inhabitants of other con- 
quered countries in distant parts. In the present case, the 
new settlers in Israel were brought from the region of the 
Lower Tigris and Euphrates ; and being intended merely to 
keep the land occupied, were a far less numerous and valu- 
able population than that which they had displaced. This 
design was more fully worked out by Esarhaddon, the son of 
Sennacherib, who gleaned the remnant left in the land, and 
substituted more foreigners. The new comers gradually com- 
bined with the dregs of the Israelites who remained in the 
country, and the population thus formed took the name of 
Samaritans from the city of Samaria. They were all ido- 



other beasts of prey in the depopulated country, which they 
ascribed to His anger against them. The desired knowledge 
they obtained from a priest who fixed his residence at Bethel ; 




133. Lion. 



laters ; but, according 
to the notions of local 
and national deities 
which then prevailed, 
they deemed them- 
selves bound to know 
something of " the 
god of the country" 
in which they had 
settled. To this they 
were further impelled 
by the increase and 
boldness of lions and 



THE JEWS RETURN TO PALESTINE. 307 

and the result was, that they combined the worship of the 
true God with that of their own idols. Very gradually, how- 
ever, their system purified itself from the idolatrous dross, and 
the Samaritans at length rested in a system of belief as pure 
as that of the Jews, although less regular in some of its 
observances. In some respects their creed may have been 
the purer of the two, seeing that it was based entirely upon 
the Books of Moses, whereas that of the Jews became encum- 
bered with a great mass of oral traditions. 

7. As henceforth the Jews only, that is, the inhabitants 
of the kingdom of Judah, have historical existence, it may be 
well to offer a few concluding remarks regarding the ten 
tribes, who were earlier brought under the yoke of bondage 
by the Assyrians. They were settled in Assyria and Media, 
and nothing of then further history is known. Much, how- 
ever, has been conjectured ; and their destiny has often been 
made a subject of inquiry and dispute. Many believe that 
they are destined to take part in those purposes of divine 
mercy for which their brethren of Judah have been kept for 
so many ages separate and apart among the nations, a won- 
der and a byword in them all. In this belief they have 
sought for them, and have found in various countries, and 
under a variety of disguising circumstances, races or tribes of 
men whom, from analogous customs, rites, and features, they 
have supposed to be descendants of the ten tribes. Such 
have been found in Asia, Europe, and America, among hea- 
thens, Moslems, Jews, and Christians. All these identifica- 
tions cannot be true ; and there are none of them which quite 
satisfy the mind, for many of the analogies rest on circum- . 
stances which belonged to the Israelites, not as the sons of 
Abraham, but only as Orientals. 

8. It is to be borne in mind that the land of Israel was 
not altogether divested of its inhabitants, as many of the 
poorer people were allowed to remain. Then, also, the pro- 
clamation of Cyrus, under which the Jews eventually returned 
to build again their city and temple, was addressed not to the 
tribes of Judah and Benjamin alone but to all the people of 
Jehovah (Ezra i. 1, 3) ; and being proclaimed throughout 
the Persian empire, which included the former dominions of 
Assyria, it is probable that not a few of the ten tribes were 



308 THE ISRAELITES JOIN THE JUDAHITES. 

induced to return to Palestine. Those who were inclined to 
remove, would naturally attach themselves here and there to 
a caravan of merchants, and return to the land of their fa- 
thers. But as they arrived one after another, in small par- 
ties, no mention of their return could be expected in a history 
so concise. There might have been Israelites in the great 
caravan of Zerubbabel ; and, at all events, it is more than 
probable that most of them returned when they heard of the 
prosperity of their brethren in Palestine. At whatever time 
it may have been, it is certain that many did return ; for the 
history mentions Israelites as settled in Galilee and Peraea 
before the time of Christ. (1 Mace. v. 9, 24.) But connect- 
ing themselves with the tribe of Judah, they finally lost the 
distinctive name of Israelites, and all the Hebrews were in- 
discriminately designated as Jews. 

9. Something similar may very safely be supposed to 
have occurred beyond the Euphrates, where a very large pro- 
portion of the Judahites thought proper to remain. It is 
likely that still greater numbers of the Israelites who had 
lived in these countries two centuries longer, would feel little 
inclination to exchange the comforts they had accumulated 
for the prospects which Palestine offered. But as the old 
jealousy between Judah and Israel had by this time ceased, 
those Israelites who remained east of the Euphrates joined 
themselves to the tribe of Judah, which was in possession of 
the Temple, and consequently they too received the name of 
Jews. If this view as to the amalgamation of the ten with 
the two tribes rests upon better grounds than that which re- 
serves for the former a separate existence, all inquiry after 
the " lost tribes" must needs be superfluous. 



309 



CHAPTER VIII. B. C. 698 to 588. 



JUDAH. 

Manasseh ... 
Judah invaded by the 

Assyrians . 
Amon . . 
Josiah . . 
Jehoahaz . 
Jehoiakim 
Jehoiachin 
Zedekiak . 
Jerusalem taken 



PROPHETS, 



Zephaniah 
Jeremiak . 
Habakkuk 
Daniel . . 
Ezekiel 
Obadiah . 



Tirhakak . . . 
The twelve kings. 
Psammitichus 

matik) I. . 
Necho . . . 
Psammiticlms (Psama- 

tik) II 600 

Psamatik III., Apries, 

(Pharaoh Hoplira) . 596 



(Psa- 





ASSYEIA. 




B. C. 




B.C. 


698 


Esarhaddon .... 


710 




Medes and Babylon- 




674 


ians revolt . . 


710 


643 


Babylon regained . . 


680 


641 




667 


610 


Nebuchadonozor . . 


658 




Sarac or Sardanapalus 




598 


II 


606 


598 


Nineveh taken by the 




588 


Medes and Babylo- 








606 


630 


BABYLON. 




628 


Apronadius .... 


699 


607 


Regibelus .... 


693 


603 


Misoessimordak . . 


692 


594 


InteiTegnum . - . 


688 


587 


Asaradin or Esarhad- 






don (of Assyria) 


680 




Saosduchin .... 


667 




Chyniladen .... 


647 


689 


Nabopolassar . . . 


647 




Labynetns I. . . . 


625 



610 



BABYLONIAN EMPIRE. 

Nebuchadnezzar . . 606 
Evil-merodach ... 561 



Revolt from Assyria 710 

Dejoces or Artaeiis . 703 

Phraortes .... 663 

Cyaxares 1 608 

Astyages 601 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Creon, 1st annual Ar- 

chon of Athens . . 684 
Tyrtaeus, the poet . 684 
Terpander, the poet . 675 
Tullus Hostilius, king 

of Rome .... 672 
Byzantium built . . 658 
Ancus Martius, king of 

Rome 640 

Thrasybulus, tyrant of 

Miletus 634 

Kingdom and city of 

Cyrene founded . . 630 
Periander, tyrant of 

Corinth 629 

Draco, lawgiver of 

Athens 624 

Tarquinius Priscus, 

king of Rome ... 610 
Alcseus, the poet . . 607 
Sappho, the poetess . 600 
Solon, lawgiver of 

Athens 594 

Thales of Miletus . . 594 
The Pythian games in- 
stituted 591 

Anacharsis, the Scy- 
thian 590 



1. Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, was but twelve years 
old when his father died. Wicked counsellors corrupted his 
youth. They imbued his mind with the worst principles of 
religion and government, and brought him up in a settled 
dislike to the wholesome reformations of his father, which he 
seemed to have made it the business of his life to subvert. 
Whatever God declared to be most repugnant to him — what- 
ever good men the most abhor — were the very objects of his 
depraved choice and appetite. He not only built altars for 
all the heavenly bodies, but set up an idol in the very 
sanctuary of God, which no 6ne had hitherto dared to pro- 



310 



JERUSALEM TAKEN. 



fane ; he devoted his children to Moloch, by making them 
pass through the fire in the valley of Hinnom; and the 
people, depraved by his example, became in all respects far 
worse than the Canaanites, who had been rooted out to make 
room for them. The righteous few, who still remained 
faithful to the truth, were grievously persecuted; and injustice 
and crime were at this time so rampant, that innocent blood 
flowed abundantly in Jerusalem. Even the prophets, whom 
God sent to warn the apostate king, were not spared ; and 
it is believed that the great prophet Isaiah was by his order 
sawn asunder. 

2. The threatened doom was at length inflicted. By the 
twenty- second year of his reign, Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, 
had repaired the losses which the death of Sennacherib had 
occasioned. Having invaded Palestine, he removed the 
remnant which lingered upon the mountains of Israel, and 
dispatched his generals against Jerusalem. The city was 
taken and Manasseh was sent -in chains to Babylon, which 
the Assyrians had recovered, where he was thrown into a 
dungeon. There he had leisure for thought ; and the re- 
membrance of what he had been, of what he had lost, and 
how he had lost it, filled him with poignant sorrow. At 
length his heart was softened ; he wept, and turned repen- 
tingly to the Lord, from whom he had revolted. God heard 
the moaning of the prisoner, and had pity upon him, and 
forgave him, and inclined the heart of the successor of 
Esarhaddon to restore him to his kingdom. The remainder 
of his reign was good, and he found ample employment in 
undoing all that he had before done. His reign of fifty -five 
years was the longest which occurred in either Judah or 
Israel. 

3. Amon, his son, succeeded at the age of twenty-two 
years. But although brought up in the best days of his 
lather, he followed the example of the worst. He was slain 
in a conspiracy by his own servants, after a short reign of 
two years. 

4. Josiah was only eight years old when the people, after 
having punished the murderers of his father, made him king. 
His guardianship devolved upon the high-priest, who be- 
stowed upon him an education worthy of a king. Josiah 



NINEVEH BESIEGED. 



311 



began very early to manifest the good dispositions and ex- 
cellent character which distinguished his reign. As early as 
the age of twelve he interested himself in seeing J erusalem 
purged of the idolatries which his father had in his short 
reign introduced. Afterwards he conducted this expurgation 
in person, not only in his own dominions, but throughout 
the territories which had belonged to Ephraim, Manasseh, 
Zebulun, and Naphtali. On this occasion he executed the 
sentence against the altar at Bethel, denounced to the first 
Jeroboam 350 years before, when Josiah had been appointed 
to this work by name. 

5. In the eighteenth year of his reign, the Temple was 
put in complete order and repair. In the course of these 
labours, the original book of the law, as written by the hand 
of Moses, and deposited beside the ark, was discovered by 
Hilkiah the high-priest. From this venerable copy the pro- 
phesies of Moses, foretelling the desolation of the land and 
the ruin of the Temple, were read to the king. With in- 
tense concern Josiah rent his clothes, and sent to the pro- 
phetess Huldah to ask how these things were to be under- 
stood. She confirmed the denunciation, and said that the 
threatened evils were near at hand ; but she added that the 
good king himself should be removed from this world before 
they came. The same year the king celebrated a great pass- 
over, such as had not been in any former reign. In short, 
no king surpassed, or perhaps equalled, Josiah in well-directed 
zeal for the Lord, and in efforts to extirpate idolatry and re- 
store the true religion. 

6. In the year 606 B. C, Nineveh was besieged by the 
Medes and Babylonians, who had revolted from Assyria. 
Taking advantage of these affairs, the king of Egypt marched 
an army to possess himself of Carchemish, an important pass 
of the Euphrates. He marched through Palestine. But 
Josiah, as a tributary to the Assyrians, felt himself bound to 
oppose his passage. He was defeated, and mortally wounded 
in a battle at Megiddo, and soon after died at Jerusalem, 
sincerely lamented by all his people, and bewailed by the 
prophet Jeremiah. He left three sons, Eliakim, Jehoahaz or 
Shallum, and Zedekiah. 

7. Jehoahaz or Shallum, the second of these sons, was 



312 NEBUCHADNEZZAR TAKES JERUSALEM. 

elected king by the people. We know not the cause of this 
preference, which was very little justified by his conduct 
during the three months of his reign, in which he manifested 
a disposition to imitate the worst of his predecessors. At 
the end of the three months, Necho returned triumphant 
from the Euphrates, and came to Jerusalem to reap the 
fruits of his victory at Megiddo. He laid on the city a heavy 
tribute, and deposed Jehoahaz, and carried him away captive 
into Egypt, where he died. Necho bestowed the crown on 
Josiah's eldest son, Eliakim, whose name he changed to 
Jehoiakim, in token of subjection. 

8. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he ascended 
the throne as the vassal of Egypt. He trod in the steps of 
his idolatrous predecessors, and the people imitated his ex- 
ample. The Babylonians wished to succeed to the western 
empire of the Assyrians, and not to destroy it. Nabo- 
polassar, the king of Babylon, while besieging Nineveh, be- 
held, therefore, with displeasure the disturbances west of the 
Euphrates, and sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to reduce the 
provinces to obedience. In this he succeeded, and Jehoiakim, 
among the rest, became his vassal, and continued such for 
three years. During this time Nineveh was taken, and 
Nabopolassar, dying soon after, was succeeded by Ms son 
Nebuchadnezzar. While the attention of the new monarch 
was otherwise engaged, Jehoiakim had the temerity to revolt 
from him. To this he was probably incited by the king of 
Egypt, who undertook a second expedition against Carche- 
mish, which Nebuchadnezzar had recovered. He was de- 
feated by the Babylonian, and stripped of all his possessions 
between the Euphrates and the Nile. Nebuchadnezzar then 
besieged and took Jerusalem ; and among other spoil, carried 
away a portion of the sacred vessels of the Temple, which he 
lodged in the temple of Belus at Babylon. Certain of the 
royal family and of the nobles were also taken away as 
hostages for the fidelity of the king and people. Among 
these were the prophet Daniel and his companions. Upon 
the whole, Nebuchadnezzar behaved more leniently than 
might have been expected, owing, probably, to a desire of 
maintaining Judah, if possible, as a frontier state between 
himself and Egypt. He did not even depose Jehoiakim, 



NEBUCHADNEZZAR MAKES ZEDEKIAH KING. 313 

who, uncorrected by adversity, proved the same remorseless 
tyrant, regardless of God and man. It does not appear that 
he again revolted, but after some years his conduct appeared 
so displeasing to the king of Babylon, who was then in the 
north of Syria, that he sent a number of local auxiliaries 
against him. They took him prisoner and carried him to 
Nebuchadnezzar, who put him in fetters, and designed to take 
him to Babylon. But he first proceeded with him to Jeru- 
salem, where he died. 

9. On Nebuchadnezzar's arrival at Jerusalem, he was 
little pleased to find that, without consulting him, the people 
had in the meantime raised to the throne Jehoiachin (or Je- 
coniah or Coniah), the son of Jehoiakim. This prince, in the 
brief interval of three months, had found time to evince the 
most depraved dispositions. He surrendered to Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and was taken to Babylon, where he spent the rest of 
his days. Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah, the third son of 
Josiah, king; but left him a much impoverished kingdom. 
All the portable wealth that could be found in the palace or 
the Temple, was seized and sent off to Babylon : and, along 
with the deposed king, were taken away all the persons of 
note, and all the skilful craftsmen of the kingdom. 

10. In appointing Zedekiah to the throne, Nebuchad- 
nezzar exacted from him a very solemn oath of allegiance. 
Accordingly, when in the fourth year of his reign, the kings 
of Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Tyre, invited him to join them 
in a confederacy to shake off the Babylonian yoke, he would 
not listen to their proposals. But Zedekiah set an example 
of iniquity to his people, which they willingly followed. 
They were rapidly ripening for the destruction which had 
been so long foretold ; and which was brought about by 
means of the revolt of Zedekiah from the king of Babylon, in 
the ninth year of his reign. This step was taken in reliance 
upon Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, in spite of the earnest 
remonstrances of Jeremiah, who repeatedly and in the face of 
cruel treatment, warned both the king and people, that their 
only hope of safety and quiet lay in their adhesion to Nebu- 
chadnezzar. 

11. In consequence of this revolt, the Babylonian king 
invaded Judasa with a great army, and, after taking most of 



3U 



JERUSALEM TAKEN. 



the principal towns, sat down before Jerusalem. Early in 
the next year the Egyptians marched an army to the relief 
of their ally ; but being intimidated by the alacrity with 
which the Babylonians raised the siege and advanced to give 
them battle, they returned home without risking an engage- 
ment. The return of the Chaldeans to the siege, destroyed 
all the hopes which [the approach of the Egyptian succours 
had excited. The siege was now prosecuted with redoubled 
vigour ; and at length Jerusalem was taken by storm at mid- 
night, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, and in the eighteenth 
month from the commencement of the siege. Dreadful was 
the carnage. The people, young and old, were slaughtered 
wherever they appeared ; and even the temple was no refuge 
for them : the sacred courts streamed with blood. Zedekiah 
himself, with his family and some friends, contrived to escape 
from the city ; but he was overtaken and captured in the 
plains of Jericho. He was sent in chains to Nebuchadnezzar, 
who had left the conclusion of the war to his generals, and 
was then at Eiblah in Syria. After sternly reproving him 
for his ungrateful conduct, the conqueror ordered all the sons 
of Zedekiah to be slain before his eyes, and then his own eyes 
to be put out, thus making the slaughter of his children the 
last sight on which his tortured memory could dwell. He 
was afterwards sent in fetters of brass to Babylon, where he 
remained until his death. 

12. Nebuchadnezzar appears to have felt that his pur- 
poses had not been fully executed by the army, or else he was 
urged by the Edomites and others to exceed his first inten- 
tions. He therefore sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the 
guard, with a sufficient force, to complete the desolation of 
Judah and Jerusalem. He burned the city and the temple 
to the ground ; he collected and sent to Babylon all the gold 
and silver which former spoilers had left ; and he transported 
all the people who had been left behind in Jehoiachin's cap- 
tivity, save only the poor of the land, who were left to be 
vine-dressers and husbandmen. Four years after, Nebuzara- 
dan again entered Judsea, and gleaned a few more of the 
miserable inhabitants, whom he sent off to Babylon. 

13. Thus was the land left desolate ; and thus ended the 
kingdom of Judah and the reign of David's house, after it had 



SACRED WRITERS. 



315 



endured 404 years, under twenty kings. It is remarkable 
that the king of Babylon made no attempt to colonize the 
country he had depopulated, as was done by the Assyrians in 
Israel ; and thus, in the providence of God, the land was 
left vacant, to be re-occupied by the Jews after seventy years 
of captivity and punishment. 

14. Sacred Writers. — Zephaniah prophesied in the early 
part of Josiah's reign ; and his reprehension of the existing 
abuses would appear to have roused that excellent prince to 
undertake those reformations which honoured his reign. — 
About the middle of that reign Jeremiah began to prophesy, 
and he lived through the succeeding reigns to see the fulfil- 
ment of his own predictions of the captivity of Judah. He 
was a priest of Anathoth, a place about three miles north of 
Jerusalem. After the death of Josiah, he met with great op- 
position from the kings and courtiers, by which his spirit was 
much afflicted. After the destruction of Jerusalem, he went, 
reluctantly, to Egypt, with a remnant of the Jews. What 
afterwards happened to him is not known with certainty ; but 
it is said that his countrymen in Egypt were so offended by 
his faithful remonstrances, that they stoned him to death. 
The prophesies and "lamentations" of Jeremiah, indicate a 
man deeply conscious of the evil days on which he had fallen, 
and over which he mourned intensely. — Habakkuk, who de- 
livered his short prophesy in the reign of Jehoiakim, declared, 
with much sublimity of style and grandeur of imagery, the 
approaching calamities of the nation, and pointed out the con- 
solations which the faithful might still claim. — Ezekiel was 
of the sacerdotal race, and was one of the captives whom 
Nebuchadnezzar carried into Babylonia, along with king Je- 
hoiachin. There, by the river Chebar, which falls into the 
Euphrates, he had visions of God, and delivered prophesies 
confirmatory of those which Jeremiah at the same time de- 
livered in Judaea. — The short prophesy of Obadiah is almost 
wholly directed against the Edomites, and is supposed to have 
been delivered in the very few years which elapsed between 
the destruction of Jerusalem and the desolation of Edom by 
Nebuchadnezzar. 



BOOK VI. 



CHAPTER I. 588 to 535. 



Nebuchadnezzar con- 
quers Egypt ... 570 
His insanity .... 568 
His recovery and death 561 
Evil-Merodach ... 561 
Jehoiachin released . 561 
Belshazzar, or Neriglis- 

sar 558 

Nahonadius — viceroy 553 
Cvrus, the Persian, takes 

Babylon .... 536 
End of captivity . . 535 



Cyaxares II. (Darius) 641 

suceeeds Belshaz- 
zar at Babylon . . 553 

Cyrus succeeds his 
uncle Darius . . 551 

completes the for- 
mation of the Persian 
Empire, by recover- 
ing Babylon from Na- 
honadius .... 536 



GENERAL HISTORT. 

I 

Servius Tullius, King 
of Rome . . . . 

Anaximander. . . . 

Phalaris, tyrant of 
Agrigentum . . . 

Cleobulus 

Croesus, King of Lydia 

Pisistratus, tyrant of 
Athens 

Anaximenes .... 

Pythagoras .... 

Simonides the poet 



567 
5(14 
562 



556 
539 
587 



In order to preserve the continuity of the history of Palestine, 
it is necessary to follow into their exile that favoured race, 
on whose account the Holy Land has acquired that celebrity 
which must ever attach to its name. 

1. Again, the children of Abraham, the chosen people, 
were in exile, and the land of their inheritance lay desolate. 
But we are not on that account to imagine that the purposes 
for which they had been set apart as a peculiar people among 
the nations, had been rendered nugatory. This was by no 
means the case. They were still destined to fulfil their vo- 
cation of keeping alive in the world the knowledge of the true 
God, the Creator of all things, and of being the depositaries 
of his designs towards the race of man. 

2. The later exiles found themselves not altogether 
strangers at Babylon. Their countrymen of the earlier cap- 
tivities were settled in various stations and employments, and 
some of them held posts of trust under the government. By 
that government they were regarded not as prisoners, but as 
useful emigrants ; and after a while they appear to have ex- 
perienced no other inconveniences than those which naturally 



NEBUCHADNEZZAR S DREAM. 



317 



flowed from their regrets for their own pleasant land ; from 
their position as foreigners in a strange country ; from the 
derision of the natives at the peculiarities of their religion ; 
and, probably, from a distinctive poll-tax from which the 
Babylonians were exempt. This much may be gathered from 
dispersed intimations ; but the principal known facts of the 
captivity are connected with the history of Daniel, one of the 
earlier exiles, who rose to the highest distinction under the 
Babylonian kings. 

3. Daniel was one of the young men of high family who 
were carried away as hostages for the fidelity of king Jehoia- 
chin. He and some others were put under the chief eunuch, 
to be properly trained in the language and learning of the 
Chaldeans, to fit them for employments at the court. This 
training lasted three years, when they were examined in the 
presence of the king ; and Daniel and three of his friends 
were found to have made far greater progress than any of 
those who had been educated with them. They were there- 
fore enrolled among the magians or learned men. 

4. A few years after Nebuchadnezzar was greatly troubled 
with a dream, which made a profound impression upon his 
mind ; but the particulars of which quite passed from his me- 
mory when he awoke. Great importance was attached to 
dreams in those days, and men skilled in the sciences were 
supposed to be able to discover their meaning. Therefore, 
the king sent for his court magians, and required them not 
only to interpret the dream, but to discover the dream itself, 
which he had forgotten. This they declared to be impossible ; 
on which the exasperated tyrant ordered all the magians to 
be massacred. Daniel and his friends, although not present, 
were included in such a sentence. On learning this, he 
begged a respite for the whole body, undertaking to find, 
through his God, the solution of the difficulty. The respite 
was granted ; and at the earnest prayer of Daniel, the Lord 
made the secret known to him. A colossal image which the 
king saw, with a head of gold, arms and breast of silver, 
belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and toes partly iron 
and partly clay, was struck down by a stone, which itself grew 
and filled the whole earth. This, in the interpretation of 
Daniel, figured forth "the things to come;" describing by 



318 



THE BURNING FURNACE. 



characteristic symbols the succession of empires to the end of 
time ; and it is wonderful to observe how precisely the greater 
part of what was then future has since been accomplished. 
The king was not only satisfied but astonished ; he was al- 
most ready to pay divine honours to Daniel ; and raised him 
at once to the eminent station of Archimagus, or chief of the 
magians, and governor of the metropolitan province of Baby- 
lon. His three friends, also, were, at his request, promoted 
to places of trust and honour. 

5. Not long after, Nebuchadnezzar set up a colossal image 
in the plains of Dura, and commanded that, when music 
sounded, every one should worship it, on pain of death. He 
soon learned that this command was utterly neglected by 
Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ; 
and his rage grew so high, at the example of disobedience 
given by persons in their high station, that he ordered them 
to be at once cast into " the burning furnace." The heat of 
the furnace was so great as to destroy the men who cast them 
in ; but they themselves remained unhurt, and not even a 
hair of their heads was singed. They came forth when the 
king called them ; and he was so much astonished and con- 
vinced by this prodigy, that he publicly acknowledged the 
greatness of the God whom they served. 

6. There appeared to have been some good and generous 



over all the kingdoms of the earth, and giveth them to 
whomsoever he will." He was warned of this in a dream, 
which was interpreted to him by Daniel ; but, neglecting the 
warning, " his heart was changed from man's, and a beast's 




134. Ancient Babylonians. 



qualities in the cha- 
racter of Nebuchad- 
nezzar ; but the pride 
with which he con- 
templated the gran- 
deur of his empire, 
and the magnificence 
of his undertakings, 
was most inordinate, 
and he required to 
be taught that " the 
Most High ruleth 



DEATH OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 



319 



heart was given to him." He was afflicted with a madness 
which made him think himself a beast, and, acting as such, 
he remained constantly abroad in the fields, living upon wild 
herbs. In this debased and forlorn condition the mighty 
conqueror remained seven years, when he was restored to his 
reason and his throne ; and one of his first acts was to issue 
a proclamation, humbly acknowledging the signs and wonders 
which the Most High God had wrought towards him, and 
declaring his conviction, that "those who walk in pride he is 
able to abase." He died soon after. He was succeeded 
by Evil-Merodach, who had administered the government 
during the insanity of 
his father. On his 
accession, he releas- 
ed Jehoiachin from 
his long confinement, 
and gave him the , 
first place among the 
fallen kings who sat 
at his table in Ba- 
bylon. After three 
years, Evil-Merodach 
was defeated, and 
killed in a battle with the combined Medes and Persians under 
Cyrus. 

7. His son Belshazzar succeeded. Of him nothing is 
recorded but the circumstances in which his reign concluded. 
There was a great festival, which Belshazzar celebrated by a 
magnificent feast to all his nobles. They talked of their 
gods, whose power had proved so much greater than that of 
the gods of other nations ; and this suggested to the king 
to send for the sacred vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, to 
be used as wine-cups in their riotings. While thus profanely 
engaged, their attention was arrested by a mysterious hand, 
tracing on the wall words which no one understood. The 
magians tried in vain to interpret them. Daniel was then 
sent for, and he, after solemnly rebuking the king for his 
profanation of that Great Name which his proud grand- 
father had been compelled to honour, explained the terrible 
purport of the inscription to be, that the end both of his 




135. Ancient Babylonians. 



320 DANIEL CAST INTO THE DEX OF LIONS. 

life and dynasty was close at hand. He lost his life that 
very night by the conspiracy of two nobles, whom he had 
grievously wronged ; and a year after, the death of his son, a 
boy, named Laborosoarchad, left the heritage to Darius (or 
Cyaxares) the Mede, who accordingly took possession of the 
kingdom. Thus the Babylonian empire was merged in that 
of the Medes and Persians. 

8. A very high place in the favour of Darius was oc- 
cupied by Daniel ; and in re-disriibuting the government of 
the provinces, the prophet was set at the head of all. This 
excited the jealousy and discontent of many, and the destruc- 
tion of Daniel was determined. His hands were too clean, 
and his conduct too upright, to allow them to hope that they 
could fasten any charge upon him, except on the score of his 
religion. They therefore persuaded the weak old king to 
issue a decree, that no one should, for thirty days, make 
prayer to any god but himself, under pain of being cast 
alive into the den of lions. Daniel, however, made no change 
in his usual habits of prayer to the God of Israel, with his 
face turned towards Jerusalem. He was, therefore, accused to 
Darius, who saw too late the folly into which he had been 
drawn, and would fain have spared his friend. But being 
reminded, that among the Medes and Persians a royal decree 
could not be revoked or altered, he reluctantly consented 
that his own should take effect. Daniel was then thrown 
into the den of lions. The unhappy king spent the night in 
sorrow ; and early in the morning he hastened to the den, 
hoping that perhaps the Mighty God whom Daniel seiwed 
had not allowed him to perish. The cheerful voice of the 
prophet from within the den answered to the call, for the 
lions had not been allowed to hurt him. Daniel was taken 
from the den, and his accusers cast in ; and on them the lions 
had no mercy. This produced from Darius a remarkable 
proclamation of the greatness and supremacy of " the Most 
High God," whom Daniel served. 

9. Darius occupied the throne of Babylon only two years: 
and on Ms death it was usurped by a Babylonian noble, 
named Nabonadius. Cyrus, the illustrious nephew of Darius, 
was for several years too much engaged in other wars to 
attend to him. But, at length, he led his troops against 



SACRED WRITERS, 



321 



Babylon. The city held out for two years against him ; and 
was then only taken by the remarkable stratagem of divert- 
ing the course of the river Euphrates, which flowed through 
the city, and entering by night through the dry channel. 
This taking of Babylon, with all its circumstances, was 
minutely described by the prophet Isaiah, and Cyrus mentioned 
by name, above a century before that conqueror was born. 

• 10. The prophet Daniel was still alive when Babylon 
was taken by Cyrus; and there is reason to conclude, that 
this venerable personage was high in the esteem of that con- 
queror. In some decrees, Cyrus intimates his knowledge of 
those prophesies in Isaiah which speak of himself, and there 
is little question that Daniel had called his attention to them. 
We know that the prophet had at this time looked much into 
the writings of former prophets (Dan. ix. 1, 2), and had as- 
certained that the duration of the captivity was to be seventy 
years (Jer. xxv. 11, 12; xxix. 10); and now he found that 
the expiration of the seventy years left the sovereign power 
in the hands of Cyrus, of whom Isaiah had so particularly 
prophesied as the person destined " to restore the captivities 
of Judah." The communication of these facts must have 
made a strong impression on the conqueror, accompanied as 
it was by the claim, that the Jehovah whom the Hebrews 
worshipped was He who had raised him np, and had given 
to him all that greatness and glory by which he was now 
surrounded. 

11. Sacred Writers. — The most eminent writer of this 
period was Daniel, whose history has been given above. He 
lived throughout the captivity in great esteem and honour. 
He did not return with his countrymen to Judaea, but re- 
mained at Babylon, and probably died soon after, either there 
or at Susa, from which metropolitan city the last of his visions 
is dated, when he was about ninety-four years old. His 
writings are in the form of visions, which describe, almost 
with the distinctness of history, the events of future times. 
The Messiah is also mentioned by him ; and the time of his 
coming is set down with such precision, as produced among 
the Jews a general expectation of his advent at the time 
when Jesus Christ appeared. 



322 



CHAPTEE II. B.C. 535 to 516. 



THE JEWS. 

B. C 

Return to Jerusalem 
under Zerubbabel . 535 

Jeslma. high-priest . 535 

Rebuilding of the city 
and second Temple 
begun 535 

Temple finished ... 516 



PERSIAN EMPIRE. 

B. C. 

Cyrus 

Carubyses .... 529 
Smerdis. the Magian 521 
Darius Hystaspes . . 521 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Tarquinius Superbus, 
King of Rome . . 534 

Anacreon 532 

Polycrates, tyrant of 

Samos 531 

Hippias aud Hippar- 

chus at Athens . . 527 
Confucius, in China . 520 



1. Animated by the impressions thus made upon his 
mind, Cyrus, in the very year that Babylon was taken, issued 
a decree, in which, after acknowledging the supremacy of the 
Lord, and that to Him he owed all his kingdoms, he gave 
full permission to the Jews, in any part of his dominions, to 
return to their own land, and to rebuild the city and Temple 
of Jerusalem. No sooner were the favourable dispositions 
of the king thus made known, than the members of the later 
captivity — those of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi — 
repaired in large numbers to Babylon from then different 
places of residence ; some to make preparations for their 
journey ; and others, who had no intention to return them- 
selves, to assist those who had. Most of the existing race 
had been born in Babylonia, and in the course of years families 
had established themselves in the country, and formed connec- 
tions, and gathered around them comforts which were not 
easily abandoned. Hence, only a zealous minority were dis- 
posed to avail themselves of the decree in their favour : the 
great bulk of the people choosing to remain in the land of 
their exile ; and it has always been the opinion of the Jews, 
that the more illustrious portion of their nation remained in 
Chaldea. 

2. The first return caravan was organised and directed 
by Zerubbabel, the grandson of king JehoiacMn, and by 
Jeslma, a grandson of the last high-priest Jozadak. The 
number of persons who joined them was about 50,000, in- 
cluding above 7000 male and female servants. Before they 



RETURN OF THE JEWS TO JEEUSALEM. 323 

departed, Cyrus caused to be restored to them the more valu- 
able of the sacred utensils, which had been removed by Ne- 
buchadnezzar, and preserved by his successors, and which 
were now destined to be again employed in the service of the 
sanctuary. Zerubbabel was also entrusted with large contri- 
butions towards the expense of rebuilding the Temple, from 
the Jews who chose to remain behind. The beasts of burden 
in this caravan exceeded eight thousand. In the book of 
Ezra, the names of the families which returned in this first 
colony, and in those which followed are carefully given. 

3. The incidents of the journey are not related. On 
reaching Palestine, the caravan repaired at once to Jerusa- 
lem, which they found utterly ruined and desolate. Before 
they separated to seek habitations for themselves, they raised 
a large sum by voluntary contributions towards the rebuilding 
of the Temple. They then employed themselves in securing 
dwellings and necessaries for their families ; and at the ensu- 
ing Feast of Tabernacles again repaired to Jerusalem, where 
sacrifices were offered on an altar erected upon the ruins of 
the Temple. After this the people applied themselves zeal- 
ously to the necessary preparations for the restoration of that 
edifice. In a year from the departure from Babylon the pre- 
parations were sufficiently advanced to allow the work to be 
commenced ; and, accordingly, the foundations of the second 
Temple were then laid with great rejoicings and songs of 
thanksgiving. While the work proceeded, the Samaritans 
manifested a desire to assist in the work, and to claim a com- 
munity of worship in the new Temple. This was declined by 
the Jews, on the ground that the decree of the Persian king 
extended only to the race of Israel. 

4. Being thus frustrated in their design, the Samaritans 
employed every means they could devise to thwart the under- 
taking. Their origin appears to have given them consider- 
able influence at the Persian court ; and although they could 
not act openly against the plain decree of Cyrus, an unscru- 
pulous use of then- money and influence among the officers of 
the government enabled them to raise such obstructions that 
the people were much discouraged, and the work proceeded 
but languidly, and at length was suspended altogether. This 
was one cause of the enmity which always afterwards sub- 



324 



SECOND TEMPLE FINISHED. 



sisted "between the Jews and the Samaritans. The suspension 
of the work commenced in the time of Cyrus, and continued 
through the reigns of Cambyses and Smerdis, to the second 
year of Darius Hystaspes. In this long interval the people 
gradually lost all heart for the work, and were disposed to 
conclude that the set time for it had not yet arrived. From 
this lethargy they were roused by the exhortations and re- 
proaches of the prophet Haggai ; and the building was re- 
sumed with fresh zeal. This zeal was indeed somewhat 
damped by the discouraging regrets of the old men, who had 
seen in their youth the Temple of Solomon, and who clearly 
perceived that this would be a far inferior "building. But to 
obviate this discouragement the prophet Haggai was com- 
missioned to declare that the ultimate glory of this second 
Temple should greatly exceed that of the first, — not by 
greater splendour of fabric, but by the presence within its 
walls of the Messiah, so long expected and foretold — " the 
desire of all nations." Haggai ii. 1-9. 

5. The renewal of the work roused afresh the opposition 
of the Samaritans, whose representations induced Tatnai, the 
Persian governor of Syria, to write home for instructions, 
stating that the Jews alleged the authority of a decree of 
Cyrus for their proceedings. The result was happy; for, 
after some search, the decree was found. It not only autho- 
rised the erection of the Temple, but directed the local 
government to afford assistance and supplies, which the Jews 
had not ventured to require, but which the rescript of Darius 
now commanded to be given. Under the impulse thus im- 
parted the work proceeded with spirit ; and, four years after, 
it was completed. The dedication was celebrated with great 
solemnity and joy ; and soon after, it was made fit for the 
old ritual worship, which was resumed at the ensuing pass- 
over. 

6. The Jews being now in some sense restored to their 
own land, it is proper to mention the footing on which they 
stood as a people. Like all the surrounding nations, they 
were under tribute to the Persians, and subject to the general 
policy of that government. They appear to have been 
favourably considered by it, at first on account of Daniel, and 
afterwards on account of the hatred of idolatry which was 



SACEED WEITEES. 



325 



common to the Jews and to the Persians.* They were al- 
lowed the free exercise of their religion and laws, and the 
internal government was directed by a governor of their own 
nation, or by the high-priest when there was no other gover- 
nor. There was, in fact, a distinct commonwealth, with its 
own peculiar institutions ; and although responsible to the 
Persian king, and to his deputy the governor-general of 
Syria, it was more secure under the protection of the Persian 
monarchy than, considering its feeble condition, it would 
have been in complete independence. With regard to religion, 
the dreadful lesson taught by the desolation of the land, the 
destruction of the Temple, and the captivity of the people, 
had effectually cured the Jews of that tendency to idolatry 
which had been their ruin. But, as time went on, the dis- 
tortion of character which had been restrained in one direc- 
tion broke forth in another ; and although they no longer 
went formally astray from a religion which did not suit their 
carnal minds, they, by many vain and mischievous fancies, 
fabricated a religion suited to their own dispositions out of the 
ritual to which they formally adhered. 

7. Sacred Writers. — The prophet Haggai was the first 
of the three prophets who were commissioned to make known 
the will of God to the Jews after their return from captivity. 
He is supposed to have been born at Babylon, and to have 
returned with Zerubbabel, under the edict of Cyrus. The 
object of his prophesy was to stimulate the building of the 
Temple. — Zechariah was also one of the returned exiles; and 
his prophesies were delivered at the same time, and with the 
same object. He also speaks of more remote times, — the 
coming of Christ, and the Eoman war. 

* The Persians worshipped the sun as a symbol of the Deity., and the fire as a symbol 
of the sun. They could not endure idolatrous images. 




326 



CHAPTEE III. B. C. 516 to 444. 



THE JEWS. 

B. C. 



Jehoiakim. high-priest 483 

Esther succeeds queen Vashti . . . 464 

Ezra sent to Jerusalem 457 

Mordecai exalted 451 

Eliashib, high-priest 453 

GENERAL HISTORY. 

Harmodius and Aristogiton at Athens 513 
Consular government established at 

Rome 509 

First dictator (Lartius) at Rome . . 498 

Coriolanus banished 491 

The Persians defeated at Marathon . 490 
Xerxes makes his expedition into 

Greece 480 

The stand at Thermopylae .... 479 
Xerxes, defeated at Platea and My- 

cale, retires from Greece .... 479 

i'irst Decimvirs at Rome .... 451 



PERSIAN EMPIRE. 

B. C. 



Xerxes or Ahasuerus 485 

Artaxerxes Longimanus 464 



REMARKABLE PERSONS. 

L. Junius Brutus 509 

Porsenua 507 

Coriolanus 490 

Leonidas 491 

Aristides 486 

^Eschvlus 486 

Pindar 480 

Themistocles 480 

Pausanius 479 

Cimon (banished) 470 

Anaxagoras 470 

Pericles - 468 

Sophocles 463 

Herodotus 445 



1. It does not appear that the restored Jews experienced 
any further molestation in the lifetime of Darius Hystaspes, 
who reigned thirty-six years, and died B. C. 485. He was 
succeeded by his son Xerxes ; and as he is the Ahasuerus of 
Ezra (iv. 6), it would appear that he was friendly to the 
Jews, notwithstanding the attempts made by the Samaritans 
to prejudice his mind against them. He was succeeded in 
B. C. 564, by his son Artaxerxes Longimanus, whose long 
reign embraces several circumstances of great interest to the 
Jewish people. 

2. Early in this reign they proceeded to rebuild Jeru- 
salem on a regular plan, and to surround it with a wall. 
This last procedure excited a ferment of opposition from the 
Samaritans and others, who succeeded in alarming the Persian 
government lest its dominion in these parts should be en- 
dangered by the fortification of a city, noted of old for its 
turbulent character, as well as for the power of its former 
kings. Hence, an order was obtained that the building of 
the walls should not be allowed. It was not long, however, 



EZRA SENT TO JERUSALEM. 



327 



before Artaxerxes ascertained the present position and cha- 
racter of the Jewish people, and the favourable sentiments of 
Cyrus and Darius Hystaspes towards them, as manifested in 
the conduct and edicts of these princes. He learned also 
the veneration with which the God of the Hebrews had been 
regarded by the most eminent of his predecessors. All this 
is manifested in the terms of the commission by which, in the 
seventh year of this reign, Ezra, the priest and scribe, was 
authorised to proceed to Jerusalem to set in order whatever 
related to the service and worship of Jehovah. He was not, 
however, authorised to rebuild the walls. 

3. Such a commission as that with which Ezra was in- 
vested had become highly necessary ; for after the death of 
the first leaders of the restoration, the high-priest Jeshua, the 
governor Zerubbabel, and the prophets Haggai and Zecha- 
riah, both the civil and ecclesiastical state became very 
unsettled, and had remained so for many years. The com- 
mission granted to Ezra was very extensive, and its terms 
were so precisely applicable to the circumstances of the 
Jewish people, as to suggest that it was procured from the 
king by some of the powerful Jews who remained beyond 
the Euphrates. As governor, Ezra was authorized to appoint 
superior and inferior judges, to rectify abuses, to enforce the 
observance of the law, and to punish the refractory with fines, 
imprisonment, or even death, according to the degree of their 
offences. Such of the Jews as thought proper, were invited 
to go back with Ezra, and from those who chose to remain, 
he was authorized to collect contributions for the use of the 
Temple. To this fund the king himself and his council 
liberally contributed ; and the ministers of the royal revenues 
west of the Euphrates were enjoined to furnish Ezra with 
what he might require, within certain limits, of silver, wheat, 
wine, oil, and salt, in order that the sacrifices and offerings 
of the Temple should be constantly kept up ; all of which is 
said to have been done in order to avert from the king and 
his sons, the wrath of the Grod of the Hebrews, who, it is very 
evident, was held in much honour at the Persian court. 

4. An exemption from all taxes was also promised to 
persons engaged in the service of the Temple ; but this boon 
did not induce any of the Levitical tribe to join the caravan 



328 EZRA CAUSES THE LAW TO BE PUBLICLY BEAD. 

which assembled on the banks of the river Akava, in Baby- 
lonia; and it was with some difficulty that Ezra at last 
induced some of the priestly families to go with him. The 
whole caravan was composed of 1754 adult males, — making, 
with wives and children, about 6000 persons. As a party 
thus composed had little military strength, and as the journey 
across the desert was then, as it always has been, dangerous, 
from the predatory Arab tribes by which it is infested, 
they felt considerable anxiety on this account. But Ezra, 
from having said much to the king of the Lord's power to 
protect and deliver those that trusted in him, felt disinclined 
to apply for a guard of soldiers ; and thought it better that 
the party should, in a solemn act of fasting and prayer, cast 
themselves upon the care of their God. Their confidence 
was rewarded by the perfect safety with which their journey 
was accomplished. In four months they arrived at Jeru- 
salem. 

5. Having deposited in the Temple the donations with 
which he was charged, and imparted his commission to the 
royal officers in that quarter, Ezra applied himself earnestly 
to the work he had undertaken. He does not himself record 
any of his acts particularly, excepting the removal of the 
foreign and idolatrous women, whom many of the people, and 
even of the priests and Levites, had married, contrary to the 
law. But we are informed by Nehemiah, that Ezra caused 
the law to be publicly read to the assembled people, and to 
be explained by interpreters to those who understood only 
the Chaldean dialect, in which they had been brought up. 
This doubtless gave occasion for the increase of the copies of 
the law ; and it is generally understood that Ezra collected 
and revised the sacred books which compose the Old Testa- 
ment, and arranged them in the form which they now bear. 

6. While Ezra was engaged in these labours, a great 
danger threatened the Jews who remained beyond the 
Euphrates. In the third year of his reign, the Persian king- 
had put away his queen Vashti, and had taken in her place 
a beautiful Jewish damsel named Esther, the niece of Mor- 
decai, a Benjamite, and one of the officers of the palace. 
Years passed away, in the course of which the chief place in 
the king's favour was acquired by Haman, an Amalekite. 



DECREE FOR THE EXTERMINATION OF THE JEWS. 329 

To him the king commanded that all his servants and officers 
should bow in that peculiar manner, by which the Persians 
testified the highest respect. This act of homage was refused 
by Mordecai,* who 
constantly allowed the 
great man to pass by 
without shewing that 
respect which all 
others paid. This at- 
tracted the attention 
and excited the in- 
quiries of Haman ; 
and learning, proba- 
bly, that all other 
rigid Jews would act 
in the same manner, 
he vowed the extinc- 
tion of the whole race. 
Having fixed, by lot, what he considered a propitious clay 
for the execution of his design, he proceeded to the king, 
and without naming the people, but describing them, in 
general terms, as of peculiar customs and unpleasant manners, 
and of a refractory and rebellious disposition, he obtained an 
order for their extermination. Couriers were accordingly 
sent to all the provinces, commanding that the Jews every- 
where, without regard to age or sex, should be utterly extir- 
pated on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and their 
property taken as a prey. When this became known in 
Shushan (Susa) the metropolis, all the Jews there declared 
their concern in loud lamentations, and by garments of 
mourning. On learning these things from Mordecai, Esther, 
at his desire, undertook to intercede with the king in behalf 
of her people. 

7. This was an undertaking of great peril ; for it was 
death for any one to appear before the king uncalled, and 
she had not for some time been invited to his presence. She 

* The precise ground of this refusal is not well known. Some think that it was 
because the form of homage was deemed idolatrous by Mordecai; ethers, that he would 
not bow to one of the race which had been doomed to extermination as the implacable 
enemies of Israel. 

p2 




830 



DEATH OF RAMAN. 



went, however, attended by her maidens ; and the king, 
happening to be in good hnmour, extended to her the golden 
sceptre, by which act her intrusion was forgiven. She 
invited the king and Haman to a banquet, at which she 
improved the favourable opening with such consummate tact, 
that the design of Haman appeared in the king's view as a 
plot for the destruction of the queen and her people ; and in 
his rage he commanded him to be hanged upon a high gal- 
lows which he had himself prepared for Mordecai. It was 
less easy to revoke the murderous order which had at 
Haman's instance been issued, by reason of that peculiar 
practice of the Persians which made the word of the king a 
law that could not be altered. All that could be done was 
to allow the Jews to stand upon then defence against those 
who might attempt to put the first order into execution. 
These conflicting orders occasioned much bloodshed in dif- 
ferent parts ; but the Jewish nation was preserved, and the 
deliverance is to this day commemorated by an annual feast, 
called Purim. 

8. There is yet another incident in this remarkable his- 
tory. In the interval, after the first order had been issued, the 
king's attention was providentially drawn to the fact, that a 
domestic plot against his life had been formerly detected 
and made known by Mordecai. He then asked what reward 
had been conferred on the man to whom he owed his life ; 
and healing that he had received no mark of favour, he sent 
for Haman, and asked him what ought to be done for the 
man "whom the king delighted to honour." Supposing that 
the king referred to himself, Haman enumerated distinctions 
of the very highest class, bordering on those which belonged 
to royalty itself ; he was, therefore, utterly confounded when 
the king told him to see that all these honours were bestowed 
upon Mordecai the Jew, — the very Mordecai for whom he had 
just prepared a gallows fifty cubits high. Haman obeyed in 
silence ; and on his downfall, which immediately followed, 
Mordecai was promoted to his place, which gave him power 
to be very useful to his nation. 

9. Sacred Writers. — The history of Ezra has been men- 
tioned, and some allusion has been made to his labour in 
arranging and revising the sacred books. Of these labours 



SACKED WEITERS. 



331 



he says nothing himself; but the constant tradition of the 
Jews has been, that he collected as many copies of the sacred 
books as he could obtain ; and by correcting the errors of 
former copyists, and by adding in various places what appeared 
necessary to illustrate, connect, or explain the context, he 
produced one perfect copy, which became the exemplar for all 
subsequent transcribers. Ezra was probably the author of 
the book which bears his name ; and to him also the author- 
ship of the books of Chronicles has been usually ascribed. 




Tomb of Ezra. 



332 



CHAPTER IV. B. C. 444 to 312. 



THE JEWS. 

B. C. 

Xehemiah 444 

Builds the walls of Jerusalem . 444 

Returns to Persia 432 

Comes asain to Jerusalem . . 424 

End of Old Testament canon ... 420 

Joiada, high-priest 413 

Jonathan or Jehu, high -priest . . . 373 I 

Jaddua or Jaddus. lush-priest . . . 341 

Onias 321 | 

EVENTS. 

B. C. 

First Censors at Rome 443 

Peloponnesian War begins .... 431 

Egypt revolts from the Persians . . 414 

Death of Cyrus the younger . . . 401 

Retreat of the Ten Thousand . . . 401 

Peace of Antalcidas 387 

Battle of Mantinea, and death of 

Epaminondas , 363 

Birth of Alexander the Great . . . 356 

Egypt recovered by the Persians . . 350 

Carthaginians defeated by Tinioleon 340 

Battle of Chferonea 340 

Philip, king of Macedon. killed . . 336 
Alexander defeats the Persians on the 

Grauicus 334 

at Issus 333 

Takes Ty re, visits Jerusalem, acquires 

Egypt, founds Alexandria . . . 332 

Defeats Darius at Arbela .... 331 

Persian Empire ends 331 

Alexander dies, and his conquests 

shared by his generals 324 



PERSIAN EMPIRE. 

B. C. 

Artaxerxes Longimanus 423 

Darius Xothus 423 

Artaxerxes Mnemon 404 

Ochus 381 

Darius Codomanus 335 

Conquered by Alexander .... 331 



PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Euripides 442 

Phidias 440 

Aristophanes 434 

Socrates 429 

Democritus 428 

Thucydides 426 

Hippocrates 425 

Alcibiades 420 

Appius Claudius 419 

Euclid 404 

Zeuxis 397 

Camillus (Roman dictator) . . . 390 

Plato . • 389 

Epaminondas 375 

Dioeenes 372 

T. Manlius Torquatus 361 

Tinioleon 346 

Aristotle 345 

Phocion 343 

Demosthenes 338 

Apelles 334 



I. It was not until the twentieth year of Artaxerxes 
that the Jews received the long-desired permission to build 
the walls of Jerusalem. This permission was obtained by a 
Jew called Xehemiah, who held the high office of the royal 
cup-bearer, and whose concern that "the city of his fathers' 
sepulchres lay waste" having been noticed by the king, led 
to the inquiries which induced this result. Xehemiah him- 
self was granted leave of absence, and invested with full 
powers, as governor of the province, to enable him to execute 
his own designs, which circumstances had rendered coincident 
with the existing policy of the Persian government. He 
carried orders to the royal officers west of the Euphrates, to 



WALLS OF JERUSALEM REBUILT. 



333 



render him all possible assistance, and to furnish from the king's 
forests in Lebanon such timber as he might require. Thus com- 
missioned, Xehemiah proceeded to Judasa, escorted by a body 
of Persian officers and cavalry. In this person we have an- 
other instance of the liberality with which the great eastern 
monarchies treated persons of a different religion, and of 
foreign and captive origin. The rank and authority of Ne- 
hemiah at the Persian court are evinced by the commission 
itself, and by the great retinue which was allowed him ; and 
his wealth is shown by the numerous servants he maintained, 
and the open table he kept at Jerusalem, which, with the 
other expenses of the governor, he defrayed from his own 
purse, declining to receive from the Jews the allowances be- 
longing to his office. 

2. A large town without walls offered so little inducement 
to the people, and so much temptation to enemies, that Ne- 
hemiah found Jerusalem unbuilt, and with a most scanty 
population. On making known his commission to the prin- 
cipal persons of the nation, he found them all disposed to en- 
gage zealously in the undertaking. The building of the 
new wall was accordingly commenced upon the old founda- 
tions. The Samaritans, and other enemies of the Jews, took 
alarm at this movement, and endeavoured in every possible 
way to thwart the design. The Jews were, however, too 
much in earnest to be discouraged ; they armed the work- 
men, and still further protected them by a guard of armed 
citizens, as they worked in bands upon different parts of the 
wall. Thus, by the most arduous and patriotic exertions, 
the whole wall, with its gates and towers, was finished in the 
short space of fifty-two days. This great work being ac- 
complished, the governor took measures to induce a sufficient 
number of the people to come and settle in the city. The 
neglected service of the Temple was re-established, and care 
was taken that the people should be properly instructed in 
the law of Moses. The public reading of the law, and its 
interpretation, under the direction of Ezra, as mentioned in 
the former chapter, took place at this time, with every en- 
couragement from Nehemiah. This ended in a joyful celebra- 
tion of the Feast of Tabernacles, which had, since the days 
of Joshua, been neglected and almost forgotten ; and after 



334 HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CLOSES. 

this the people were found to be in so devout a frame of mind, 
that Ezra and Nehemiah seized the occasion to engage them 
to enter into a solemn covenant to serve God with singleness 
of heart, and to obey in all things the law of Moses. Of 
such covenants we have had more than one previous example. 
This one was sealed by the principal heads of families, as re- 
presenting the whole of the people. 

3. After twelve years Nehemiah returned to Persia, his 
leave of absence having apparently expired. His absence 
was not supplied by the presence of any person uniting the 
same degree of power and influence in the nation. The 
consequence was that the people soon began to neglect the 
divine law, and to contract mischievous connections with the 
heathen nations by whom they were surrounded. This mis- 
conduct was by no means confined to the inferior classes of 
the people ; but the evil example was set by the leading 
men, by the priests, and even by the high-priest himself. 
The intelligence of such proceedings at length brought Ne- 
hemiah back again from the Persian court. He applied a 
vigorous and unsparing hand to the reformation of these 
abuses. The Jews who had married heathen females were 
compelled to part from them ; the observance of the Sabbath 
was enforced ; and the condition of the people was much im- 
proved by the abolition of illegal usury, which had operated 
in bringing great numbers of the poor under personal servi- 
tude to the rich. 

Here, properly speaking, the history of the Old Testa- 
ment closes ; and our further information is obtained from 
Josephus, and from the books of the Maccabees. 

4. After Nehemiah, Judsea ceased to form a distinct 
government, and was annexed to the satrapy of Syria. The 
internal government was, however, administered by the high- 
priests, under the appointment of the satraps of Syria. This 
annexation of the civil government to the pontificate, soon 
made that office one of high ambition to the different mem- 
bers of the sacerdotal family, and gave occasion to most dis- 
graceful contests among them. At the time which we have 
now reached, there had been three high-priests since the re- 
turn from Babylon, namely, Jeshua, Joachim, and Eliashib. 



JOSHUA SLAIN. 



335 



This last died in B. C. 413, and was succeeded by his son 
Joiada or Judas, whose pontificate extended to B. C. 373. 
Until the death of Joiada nothing particularly worthy of 
notice occurs in the history of the Jews. They remained 
quiet under the Persian government, to which they were as 
much attached as they could be to any foreign rule, and to 
which they were always faithful. 

5. The death of Joiada occurred in the thirty-first year 
of Artaxerxes Mnemon, when the satrapy of Syria was vested 
in Bagoses. Joiada was succeeded by his son Johanan or 
Jehu. But soon after Joshua, another son of the late high- 
priest, arrived at Jerusalem, and claimed that high office on 
the ground of having been appointed by Bagoses. This 
occasioned a violent dispute between the two brothers in 
the interior court of the Temple, and Joshua was slain in 
that sacred place. On hearing of this, Bagoses repaired 
to Jerusalem, and after sternly rebuking the Jews for thus 
defiling the Temple of their God, he imposed as a punishment 
a heavy tax upon the lambs offered in sacrifice, which was 
not remitted until after the death of Artaxerxes, when Ba- 
goses was recalled to Persia, and the tax was not enforced by 
his successor. 

6. In the next reign, that of Ochus, the Phoenicians re- 
volted from the Persian yoke ; and in this affair the Jews 
appear to have been partially involved ; for after the fall of 
Sidon, the king went and took Jericho, and sent the inhabi- 
tants into exile. It was in the eighteenth year of this reign 
that the high-priest Johanan died, and was succeeded by his 
son Jaddua. It would seem that Jacldua was a just pontiff, 
who endeavoured to uphold the reforms of Nehemiah. Of 
this he gave a remarkable proof by expelling his own brother 
Manasses for marrying the daughter of Sanballat, the Cuthite 
governor of Samaria. Manasses then repaired to that per- 
sonage ; and the Samaritans, not being allowed access to the 
Temple at Jerusalem, were induced, by the presence of a 
member of the pontifical family among them, to think of 
having a Temple for themselves. Sanballat accordingly ob- 
tained from Darius Coclomanus permission to build a Temple for 
them on Mount Gerizim, and when it was finished, Manasses 
became their high-priest. This measure greatly widened the 



336 



ALEXANDER MARCHES AGAINST JERUSALEM. 



breach between the Jews and the Samaritans. Each party 
contended for the exclusive claims of its own Temple. The 
Jews alleged that sacrifices ought to be offered only at 
Jerusalem ; but the Samaritans affirmed that the true place 
of sacrifice was Mount Gerizim, where they alleged Joshua had 
built the first altar. The continuance and growth of this 
controversy produced that mortal antipathy between the two 
nations to which there is more than one allusion in the New 
Testament. Luke ix. 51-56 ; John iv. 9-29 ; viii. 48. 

7. It was in the time of Jaddua that the great event 
arrived which had long been foreshewn in the prophetic 
visions of Daniel (ii. 39 ; xi. 4). The great victory over 
the Persian king, at Issus, opened up the south to Alexander 
the Great, who commenced operations in Syria, and, while 
engaged in the siege of Tyre, summoned the neighbouring 
nations to render their submission. The Samaritans obeyed 
the summons very early, and were treated with indulgence ; 
but it does not seem that any attention was paid to it by the 
Jews. Therefore, after he had destroyed Tyre, he turned 
aside on his way to Gaza, to march against Jerusalem. As 
he approached, his hostile purposes are said to have been 
averted by an imposing and submissive procession of the 
priests and citizens, headed by the high-priest in his ponti- 
fical robes. In him the conqueror is said to have recognised 



mission, were treated by Alexander. But the Greek historians 
who have written the history of Alexander, have no record 




137- Alexander the Great. 



the person who in a dream had 
foretold to him the conquest 
of the Persian empire. If so, 
it was quite in the power of 
Jaddua to fulfil this dream by 
showing him these prophesies 
of Daniel, in which his exist- 
ence and victories had been 
clearly foretold. That the 
high-priest brought these pro- 
phesies to his knowledge, might 
account for the favour with 
which the Jews, notwithstand- 
ing the tardiness of their sub- 



JERUSALEM TAKEN BY PTOLEMY. 



337 



of his visiting Jerusalem ; and the whole story of the inter- 
view between hini and the high-priest wants confirmation. 
However, when the Jews submitted, the conqueror, at their 
special request, secured to them the indisturbed enjoyment of 
their national laws, with exemption from tribute every seventh 
year ; but he demurred when the latter privilege was also 
sought by the Samaritans. While he was absent, conquer- 
ing. Egypt, the Samaritans gave him so much displeasure 
that, so far from rendering them any favour, he expelled them 
from Samaria and re-peopled it by a colony of Macedonians. 
The dispossessed Samaritans then repaired to the city of 
Shechem, between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, which became 
their metropolis. 

8. After the death of Alexander, the vast empire which 
he had won was divided among his generals, and Judasa, 
from its situation between Egypt and Syria, suffered dread- 
fully, and was deeply involved in the bitter contests in which 
his successors were soon engaged against each other. It is 
our purpose not to relate the particulars of these contests, but 
to glean from them the facts which directly affected the con- 
dition of the Jewish people. 

9. In the first division of Alexander's empire, Syria, with 
Palestine, devolved to Laomedon, and Egypt to Ptolemy Lagus. 
Between them a war arose, and the former was defeated by 
Nicanor, one of the generals of Ptolemy. All the provinces 
of Laomedon then submitted to Ptolemy ; but the Jews mani- 
fested so much reluctance to violate their engagements, that 
Ptolemy advanced against Jerusalem with a large army and 
laid close siege to the city. Knowing that the religious 
veneration of the Jews for the seventh day prevented them 
from fighting thereon, he assaulted and took the city on the 
Sabbath. But he did not treat them with severity ; for 
although he sent a large number of Jews into Egypt, it was 
rather as colonists than as prisoners. Indeed, before this, 
many Jews had been removed to Egypt by Alexander, to 
help to people his new city of Alexandria, where they were 
allowed civic privileges of the first class, the same as the 
Greek inhabitants enjoyed. These privileges were confirmed 
by Ptolemy, who also advanced many of those he took away 
to places of authority and trust, in consequence of which 

Q 



338 



SACKED WRITERS. 



many more went to Egypt of their own accord. Eight years 
after, Ptolemy transported another large body of them, whom 
he settled in the provinces of Lybia and Cyrene. By suc- 
cessive deportations of this description, and by the voluntary 
removals of Jews who sought under the shadow of the 
Egyptian throne the peace which they could not find in their 
own country, Egypt became, and long continued, an impor- 
tant seat of the Jewish population. 

10. Sacred Writers. — The book of Nehemiah has the 
singularity of being written in the first person, and was, 
therefore, without doubt, the production of the eminent man 
whose name it bears. It gives a clear and plain account of 
his administration, and has more than any other portion of 
Scripture, the effect of an autobiographical narrative. Malachi, 
the last of the prophets, belonged to the time of Nehemiah. 
Nothing whatever is known of him. He reproved the abuses 
which Nehemiah laboured to correct. It is remarkable that 
his prophesy closes the Old Testament with an announcement 
of John the Baptist, with whose birth and ministry the history 
of the New Testament opens. 



339 



CHAPTER V. B.C. 314 to 187. 



THE JEWS. 

B.C. 

Simon I. High-priest . 302 

Eleazer 283 

Manasses 251 

OniasII 225 

Simon II 211 

OniasIII 191 



Ptolemv Lagus . 
P. Philadelphia 
P. Euerscetes I. . 
P. Philopator . 
P. Epiphanes . 



284 
246 
220 
204 



SYRIA . 

I 

Seleucus I. Mcator 
Antiochus I. Soter . . 
Antiochus II. Theos . 
Seleucus II. Calliuicus 
Seleucus III. Ker annus 
Antiochus III. the Great 
Seleucus IV. Philopator 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

B.C. 

.Era of the Seleuotdse begins . . . 312 
Alexander's generals take the title of 

kings 306 

Antigonus defeated and killed . . 301 
Seleucia on the Tigris built .... 291 
The Septuagint translation of the Old 

Testament 184 

Pyrrhus, Kiu^ of Epirus, enters Italy 280 

First Punic war begins 264 

Regulus taken prisoner 256 

The Temple of Janus shut . . . . 235 
The Colossus of Rhodes overthrown 224 
Second Punic war begins .... 218 

The battle of Canns 216 

Hannibal defeated in Africa by Scipio 202 

Second Punic war ends 201 

Hannibal goes to Antiochus III, . . 195 
First Roman army in Asia, under 

Scipio Asiaticus : " defeats Antiochus 190 



REMARKABLE PERSONS. 

B.C. 

Antipater, ob 319 

Eumenes, ob 315 

Antigonus 311 

Demetrius Poliorcetes 307 

Epicurus 295 

Theocritus 281 

Berosus 268 

Manetho 261 

Cnllimachus 260 

Hauno 257 

Regulus 258 

Hamilcar 248 

Archimedes 236 

Apollonius 230 

Plautus 220 

Hannibal - 220 

Q. Fabius Maxiiaus 216 

Zeno 210 

Asdrubal 211 

Scipio Africanus 204 

Scipio Asiaticus 190 



1. Ptolemy Lagus did not long remain in undisturbed 
possession of Palestine, which, with Phoenicia and Coele- Syria, 
was wrested from him by Antigonus, one of the most ambi- 
tious and turbulent of the generals who shared the empire of 
Alexander. But after he had been overthrown and slain by 
Seleucus and Lysimachus, in the decisive battle of Ipsus, 
Ptolemy quietly recovered and retained this important pro- 
vince ; and by the wisdom and justice of his government pro- 
moted the prosperity and gained the affections of the Jewish 
people. During his reign, Simon the Just, a most excellent 
high-priest, repaired and improved the city and temple of Je- 
rusalem, and provided both with strong and lofty walls. He 
is also understood to have completed the canon of the Old 
Testament Scriptures by adding the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, 



340 



TRANSLATION OF SCRIPTURES INTO GREEK. 



Chronicles, Esther, and the prophesies of Malachi. In B.C. 
300, he succeeded Onias, the successor of Jaddua, and died 
in B.C. 291. 

2. Meanwhile a power arose in Asia, which was by far 

the greatest of those 
which were formed 
out of the spoils of 
Alexander's empire. 
It was founded by Se- 
leucus, who took the 
title of King of Syria. 
His dominion extend- 
ed from the Euxine 
to the * borders of 
Arabia, and from the 
Mediterranean to the 
Indus. His eastern 
capital was Seleucia, 
on the Tigris, and his 
western Antioch. Both 

these cities, and many others, were founded by him. Being, 
like Ptolemy, convinced of the value of the Jews as good and 
faithful citizens, he endeavoured to attract them to his new 
cities in Asia Minor by the offer of the same privileges as 
Ptolemy had allowed them in Egypt. Many Jews accepted 
the invitation ; and hence, in later periods, we find them 
established in considerable numbers in the principal cities of 
Asia Minor as well as of Egypt. 

3. Ptolemy Philadelphus succeeded his father Ptolemy 
Lagus in B.C. 285. He confirmed to the Jews all their for- 
mer privileges. He induced large numbers of them to settle 
in Egypt, and to promote that object ransomed many who 
had been sold for slaves. This king was a great patron of 
literature, and spared no cost in procuring curious books for 
the famous library which he established at Alexandria. He 
caused the Hebrew Scriptures to be translated into Greek, 
and deposited in that library. This important translation still 
exists under the name of the Septuagint, from the tradition 
that seventy persons were employed in the translation. The 
prophesies of the Hebrew books had lately attracted some at- 




PTOLEMY PHILOPATOPw 



341 



tention, and the authentic .history of a people so closely 
connected with Egypt as the Jews, must have been deemed 
interesting. These were probably the reasons which led 
Philadelphus to desire this translation. By its means the 
religion of the Jews became better known to the heathen, and 
we afterwards hear of magnificent presents being sent by them 
to the Temple of Jerusalem. The translation may be refer- 
red to the year B.C. 278 ; a correct copy of the original also 
was provided by the care of Eleazer the high-priest, son of 
Simon the Just. 

4. Ptolemy Euergetes, the next king of Egypt, consider- 
ably enlarged the privileges of the Jews, and testified his re- 
spect for their God, by offering a vast number of victims in 
sacrifice at Jerusalem. 

5. In the next reign, that of Ptolemy Philopator, the 
peace which the Jews had enjoyed under the Egyptian kings 
began to be seriously disturbed. Antiochus III. surnamed 
the Great, king of Syria, greatly desired to annex to his own 
dominions the provinces of Palestine 
which had been held by the kings of 
Egypt, whom he made some vigorous 
efforts to dispossess. But, after being 
for a time successful, he was at length 
defeated with great loss by Philopater, 
who soon after repaired to Jerusalem, 
and offered many sacrifices to Jehovah 
in acknowledgment of his recent vie- ,„ 

TT » , , , ,139. Antiochus the Great. 

tory. Unfortunately the beauty and 

richness of the building attracted his attention, and he desired 
to view the interior. This was resisted by the high-priest 
Simon II. who informed him that it was unlawful even for 
priests to enter the inner sanctuary. The king persisted ; 
but as he was walking across the inner court to enter the sa- 
cred place, a sudden dread and horror came over him, and he 
fell speechless to the ground. He was carried out, half dead, 
by his attendants. This circumstance, acting upon an ill 
constituted mind, filled the king with great resentment against 
the Jewish people, and, on his return to Egypt, he raised a 
bitter persecution against those who had settled in that land. 
He took away their high privileges, and caused them to be 




342 



DEATH OF PHILOPATOR. 



enrolled with the lowest class of the native Egyptians ; and 
many were, on various alleged g-rounds, consigned to slavery 
and to death. It is even said that he contemplated the ex- 
tirpation of the Jewish race, and that, "beginning- with those 
of Egypt, he caused a large number of them to be brought 
together at Alexandria, with the view of having them pub- 
licly destroyed by elephants in the hippodrome. A vast mul- 
titude of people assembled to view the horrid spectacle, and 
the king himself was present with his court. The elephants, 
to render them furious, had been previously inebriated with 
wine and frankincense ; but instead of slaying the victims 
exposed to their rage, they turned their fury upon the spec- 
tators, of whom great numbers were destroyed, while the 
Jews remained altogether unhurt. Public opinion recognised 
in this an interposition of Heaven in their behalf ; and we 
are told that Philopator desisted from his designs, and restored 
to the Jews their former privileges. The whole of this ac- 
count, however, rests on authority in which implicit confidence 
cannot be placed. 

6. Philopator died in B.C. 205, leaving the crown to 
Ptolemy Epiphanes, then a child of five years old. Antiochus 
the Great had meanwhile, by a series of successes in the east, 
greatly extended his authority and power ; and having now 
returned to the west, he deemed the conjuncture favourable 
for a fresh attempt to wrest the Syrian provinces from the 
Egyptian crown. He succeeded ; and the Jews manifested 
great readiness in placing themselves under his rule. Con- 
sidering their general attachment to Egypt, this must be ac- 
counted for by their resentment at the treatment of Philo- 
pator, and by their satisfaction at the kindness and liberality 
of Antiochus to the numerous Jews who were settled in his 
dominions on both sides of the Euphrates. Antiochus was 
much gratified by the proofs of attachment which he received ; 
and when he visited Jerusalem in B.C. 198, he conferred on 
it such favours as he knew were best calculated to win the 
hearts of the inhabitants. He promised to restore the city to 
its ancient splendour, and to repair the Temple at his own 
cost ; he made provision for the regular performance of the 
sacred services, and he guaranteed the Temple from the in- 
trusion of strangers. By bestowing these favours, with the 



PEACE RESTORED TO JERUSALEM. 



343 



confirmation of their political privileges, Antiochus shewed 
that he well understood the remarkable people with whom he 
had to deal. 

7. The troubles in which Antiochns became involved with 
the Romans, who now began to take part in the affairs of 
Western Asia, little concerned the Jews. They might have 
continued to enjoy tranquillity under his successor ; for Se- 
leucus Philopator was as well disposed towards the Jews as 
his father had been, and gave orders that the charges for the 
public worship should continue to be defrayed out of his own 
treasury. An unhappy altercation, however, between Onias 
III. and Simon the governor of the Temple, changed the 
aspect of affairs. The latter, in consequence of this quarrel, 
sent to the king a very exaggerated account of the wealth 
contained in the Temple ; and Seleucus, being in great want 
of money, determined to appropriate all this treasure to him- 
self. He therefore sent his treasurer Helioclorus to seize it 
and bring it to Antioch. When this functionary arrived at 
Jerusalem, Onias endeavoured to dissuade him from his pur- 
pose, assuring him that the fund was not considerable, and 
that it was devoted to charitable uses. But Heliodorus per- 
sisted in executing his commission, and was about to enter 
the Temple, when he was terror-struck by an awful vision, 
and quickly withdrew not only from the Temple but from the 
city, which he declared to be under the protection of a power 
which no man could withstand. 

8. The high-priest soon followed him to Antioch, to com- 
plain to Seleucus of the misconduct of Simon, which he placed 
in so strong a light as to procure his banishment from Jeru- 
salem, whereby peace was once more restored to the city. 



344 



CHAPTER VI. B. C. 175 to 169. 



THE JEWS. 



Jason, High-priest . 174 
Menelaus, High-priest 172 



Ptolemy Philometor 
and Ptolemy Phys- 
con 17> 



Antiochus IV. Epi- 
phanes . . . 




140. Antiochus Epiphan.es. 



1. The Jews had now been so long under the Greek 
monarchs of Egypt and Syria, that they had become well 
acquainted with the customs, the literature, and the philo- 
sophy of the Greeks. A large party 
regarded the manners of that people 
with preference, and then religion 
without displeasure, and were willing 
to sink the distinctive peculiarities of 
their own practices and faith. Of this 
number was Jesus, the brother of the 
high-priest Onias, whose predilections 
were manifested by the Greek name of 
Jason which he assumed. He offered 
a large sum of money for the high-priesthood to Antiochus 
Epiphanes, who succeeded Seleucus Philopator in B. C. 175. 
His offer was accepted. 
Onias was called to An- 
tioch, and kept there a 
prisoner at large ; and 
Jason took his place. The 
party which gathered 
around this man was con- 
siderable ; for not only 
was there among the edu- 
cated classes a strong lean- 
ing towards the Greek 
customs, to which he was 
known to be favourable, 
but the citizenship of Antioch, which he had been empowered 
to bestow, was to them an object of great desire. Jason delayed 




141. Athletic Exercises. 



MENELAUS HIGH-PRIEST. 



345 



not to establish at Jerusalem a gymnasium for athletic exer- 
cises, which soon became so popular, that even the priests 
neglected the Temple services to be present at the games. 
Jason also established an academy for bringing up the 
Hebrew youth after the manner of the Greeks ; and by every 
kind of influence he encouraged the adoption of Greek 
customs and habits, not only of external life, but of action 
and thought. It appears, however, that the Jews generally, 
and even his own adherents, were not prepared to go so far 
as himself; and when he sent some young men to Tyre, to 
assist at the games celebrated there in honour of the Tyrian 
Hercules, and entrusted them with large sums of money to 
expend in sacrifices to that idol, they chose rather to give the 
money for the build- 
ing of ships. Jason 
did not long enjoy 
his ill-gotten dignity ; 
for after three years 
he was supplanted in 
turn by his younger 
brother Onias IV. or 
Menelaus, who offered 
the king 300 talents 
more for that dignity 
than Jason had given. 
Jason fled to the coun- 
try of the Ammonites. 
Menelaus proved even more wicked than his brother. One 
of his first acts was to abstract some of the golden vessels of 
the Temple, and to send them secretly to Tyre for sale. The 
fact, however, transpired, and excited considerable ferment, 
especially among the numerous Jews at Antioch, where the 
exiled high-priest, the venerable Onias, took such notice of 
it, as gave deep offence to his brother, who prevailed on 
Andronicus, the king's deputy at Antioch, to put him to 
death ; for which deed Andronicus was himself slain on the 
same spot by order of the king, when he returned to the 
capital. 

2. Soon after Antiochus engaged in a war with Egypt. 
He invaded that country twice with success ; but a rumour 




142. Ancient Light Vessel, Pompeii. 



346 DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY APOLLONIUS. 

of his death was believed in Palestine. This, together with 
the absence of the Syrian forces, encouraged the exiled Jason 
to attempt the recovery of his lost power. With a body of 
1000 men, assisted by friends within the city, he surprised 
Jerusalem, and inflicted great severities upon the adherents 
of Menelaus, who himself sought refuge in the castle. The 
return of Antiochus, however, compelled him to abandon the 
city and relinquish the power which he thought he had 
recovered ; and after wandering from place to place, he died 
miserably in Lacedamionia. Antiochus, provoked at the 
satisfaction which the news of his death was reported to have 
given the Jews, chose to consider the transaction as a revolt, 
and to punish it accordingly. The city was abandoned to 
the fury and license of the soldiers for three days, during 
which 4000 of the inhabitants were slain, and nearly an equal 
number carried away and sold for slaves. The king, con- 
ducted by the impious Menelaus, then entered the Temple, 
which he plundered of all its treasures, vessels, and golden 
ornaments, and carried away 1800 talents of gold and silver 
to Antioch. But he did not quit the place until he had 
offered to the people and their God, the outrage, of sacrificing 
a large hog upon the altar of burnt-offerings. Menelaus was 
left in the high-priesthood ; for although he was hated by the 
people, no one dared to move against one who stood so high 
in the favour of the king. 

3. In another invasion of Egypt, Antiochus was met by 
the Roman ambassadors, who, in the name of the Senate, 
commanded him to desist from the enterprise, and, drawing 
a circle around him on the sand, forbade him to quit it until 
he decided between the friendship and the enmity of Rome. 
He bent his proud heart to the hard task of obedience, and 
turned homeward with the formidable army he had assembled 
for this enterprise. Burning with the sense of this disgrace, 
he failed not to wreak a portion of his wrath on the Jews as 
lie returned. The baffled tyrant detached Apollonius to 
Jerusalem with an army of 22,000 men, commanding him to 
destroy the city, to massacre the male inhabitants, and to sell 
the women and children for slaves. Apollonius entered the 
city peaceably, and gave no sign of his intentions until the 
first Sabbath-day after his arrival. Then, while the people 



AXTIOCHUS ESTABLISHES IDOLATRY. 



347 



were engaged in the solemn worship of the Most High, he 
executed his dreadful commission with unrelenting ferocity. 
After having slain great multitudes of the people, and sent 
away 10,000 captives, he plundered the town, after which it 
was set on fire, and the wall demolished. The Temple was 
allowed to stand, but its service was altogether abandoned ; 
for it was commanded by a fortress which the Syrians erected, 
and' from which the soldiers assaulted all who went there to 
worship. Thus, in the month of June, B. C. 168, the daily 
sacrifices of the Temple ceased, and the city of Jerusalem was 
deserted. 

4. Antiochus next issued a decree, enjoining the esta- 
blishment of the Grecian form of idolatry throughout his wide 
dominions, that the various nations under his sway might, by 
the relinquishment of their distinctive observances, " become 
one people." When we consider the variety of the forms of 
worship among the different nations in the empire of Anti- 
ochus, it is scarcely credible that so wild a project was 
seriously entertained ; nor is it likely that the decree was 
exclusively levelled against the Jewish people ; but it is more 
probable, that his object was to find a pretext for plundering 
the temples of the recusants ; and as the temples were, from 
their sanctity, the great banks of deposit in those times, their 
spoils offered great temptations to so needy a king as Anti- 
ochus. Although the Temple of the Jews had been already 
plundered, his hatred to that people was gratified by the suf- 
ferings in which this law involved them ; and so rigidly was 
it enforced, that death was the penalty of disobedience. 
What reception this decree met with among the heathen, is 
scarcely known; but, except the Jews and the Persians, 
there were few nations likely to offer any serious opposition. 
Officers were especially appointed to enforce the decree in 
every province. In the different towns, many of the Jews 
submitted to sacrifice to idols, and to profane the Sabbath. 
The Samaritans consented to receive the statue of Jupiter 
Xenius into their temple on Mount Gerizim ; and the Lord's 
Temple at Jerusalem was dedicated to Jupiter Olyrnpius, his 
statue placed therein, and sacrifices regularly offered to him. 
Such of the Jews as refused to share in this worship, or to 
evince their conformity by eating swine's flesh, were cruelly 



348 ANTIOCHUS REPAIRS TO JERUSALEM. 

massacred, or subjected to the most exquisite tortures. The 
same proceedings were repeated in other towns ; for the idol 
altars, groves, and statues were everywhere set up, and every- 
where the tests of obedience were exacted. It was not long, 
however, before Antiochus perceived that, in as far as the 
Jews were concerned, his decree was less effectual than he 
had expected. He therefore issued another decree, forbid- 
ding, under pain of death, the worship of Jehovah, and the 
observance of the distinctive requirements of the Mosaieal 
law, such as circumcision and the Sabbath. He went farther, 
and endeavoured to extinguish the law itself, forbidding it to 
be read, and commanding every copy to be given up under 
pain of death. It was in this emergency that the Jews com- 
menced reading lessons from the prophets, instead of the law, 
in their synagogues ; and when afterwards they resumed the 
reading of the law, they did not cease to read the prophets ; 
whence arose the subsequent use of both the books of the law 
and of the prophets in their synagogues. Many, as we have 
said, apostatized under these trying circumstances ; but many 
also were found faithful unto death, and many others went 
forth to wander in deserts and in mountains, in dens and caves 
of the earth, subsisting on such herbs and roots as they could 
find in those solitary places. 

5. Astonished at the obstinacy which the Jews manifested, 
Antiochus, mistrusting the zeal of his officers, repaired him- 
self to Jerusalem to see that his decreee was rigidly 
enforced. It were charity to suppose that Antiochus Epi- 
phanes had by this time become mad ; for it is difficult other- 
wise to imagine how any human creatine would endure to 
witness, much less to take delight in, the horrid tortures and 
cruel deaths to which the unhappy recusants were subjected. 
As examples of these dreadful transactions, the historian 
relates at length the case of the venerable Eleazer, who, 
in his ninetieth year, chose rather to die than to eat the 
forbidden flesh of swine ; and of the heroic mother and her 
seven sons, who nobly set the tyrant at defiance, and pro- 
fessed their faith and hope that "the king of the world 
would raise up those that died for his laws to everlasting- 
life." 



BOOK TIL 



CHAPTER I. B. C. 167 to 163. 



THE JEWS. 

B. C. 

ls. Hiirh-Driest 172 



EGYPT. 



SYRIA. 



B. C. 



B C. 



Menelaus, High-priest 172 
Judas Maccabteus . . 163 
Alcinius 161 



P. Philonietor and P. 
Physcon .... 



175 



Antiochus (IV.) Epi- 
phanes 

Antiochus (V.) Eu- 
pator 



175 



1. The persecution by Antiochus had raged about half a 
year, when God raised up deliverance for his people in the 
noble family of the Asamoneans, Mattathias and his sons, 
better known as the Maccabees. Asamoneus, from whom 
the family took its name, was the great-grandfather of Mat- 
tathias, a priest descended from Phinehas, the son of Eleazer, 
the elder branch of the family of Aaron. This Mattathias 
was a person of consequence and influence in his native city 
of Modin, for which reason the king's commissioner at that 
place was anxious that he should there set the example of com- 
pliance with the royal mandate. But Mattaihias, on his own 
behalf and that of his sons, repelled with indignation the in- 
ducements which were offered ; and in a transport of holy 
zeal, he ran and smote down a Jew who at that moment ad- 
vanced to offer sacrifice at the idol altar. By this act the 
sword was drawn, which was to be sheathed no more till 
Israel was free. Animated by the same impulse, his sons 
and a few others gathered around Mattathias, and fell upon 
and slew the commissioner himself and his attendants ; after 
which they passed through the city, calling upon all who 
were zealous for the law of God to follow them. Many were 
roused by then call ; but as the number was as yet small to 
meet the enemy, they withdrew for a time into the wilderness. 
They were speedily followed thither by the king's troops, and 
being attacked on the Sabbath day, many suffered themselves 



350 



JUDAS MACCABJEUS. 



to be slain without offering the least resistance. Mattathias 
saw the fatal consequences of this scruple, as it had for a 
long time been usual for the enemies of the Jews to attack 
them on a day when it was known they would not fight. He 
therefore directed that henceforth they should stand on their 
defence even on the Sabbath day ; and this order, being pro- 
perly confirmed, guided the future practice of the Jewish 
people, who still, however, refused to act, except on the de- 
fensive, on the sacred day. 

2. The standard of revolt being now erected, all who 
were zealous for liberty and truth repaired to it, so that 
Mattathias soon found himself sufficiently strong to act on 
the offensive. They then left their retreat, and went, chiefly 
by night, throughout the country, pulling down the idolatrous 
altars, and destroying their persecutors wherever they met 
with them. They also re-opened the synagogues, enforced 
the rites enjoined by the law, and recovered many of the 
sacred books which had fallen into the hands of the heathen. 
A year of such exertions greatly improved the aspect of 
affairs, when death arrested the career of the heroic priest. 
He left five sons, John, Simon, Judas, Eleazer, and Jonathan. 
The dying advice of the father was, that the judicious Simon 
should be their counsellor, and the valiant Judas their 
captain. Judas is said to have derived his surname of Mac- 
cabeus from a cabalistic word formed out of M. C. B. J., 
the initial letters of the words contained in the sacred text 
which he bore upon his standard.* He proved himself a 
bold and able commander, and, in many respects, may be 
considered one of the greatest heroes which the Jewish 
nation ever produced. With a force not exceeding 6000 
men he took the field against the large and well-disciplined 
armies of Antiochus, commanded by warriors of reputation, 
and defeated them all. In the first instance, the defeat of 
Apollonius the governor of Samaria, enabled him to make 
himself master of some of the principal towns and fortresses 
of Judsea, from which he expelled the J ews who had turned 
to idolatry. Then a powerful army under a great general 

* The text was Exod xv. 11. Mi Chamoka Baalim Jehovah, " Who is like unto thee 
among the gods. Lord ! " 



MACCABEUS DEFEATS THE SYRIANS. 351 

called Seron, took the field against Judas. After encourag- 
ing his men, who were somewhat alarmed at the immense 
disparity of numbers, the hero fell upon the enemy with 
great fiuy, so that their force was broken and they fled be- 
fore him. This victory made the name of Judas renowned 
in all the neighbouring states. Antiochus himself saw that 
this revolt required more attention than he had given to it, 
and* resolving to crush it, he repeatedly sent formidable 
armies into Judaea, commanded by his most able officers. 
But the valiant Maccabeus maintained his ground, and in 
one year defeated the Syrians five times, in as many pitched 
battles. The last of these engagements was with Lysias 
the regent of Syria, during the absence of Antiochus in 
Persia, whose army amounted to 60,000 choice infantry and 
5000 horse. This formidable army was met by Judas with 
only 10,000 men to Bethzur ; and after calling on God, — 
" Cast them down with the sword of them that love thee," — 
he assailed them with such vigour that thousands of them 
were slain and the rest put to flight, Lysias was astonished 
at the desperate valour of the Jews, and conducted the 
remnant of his army back to Antioch. 

3. This great success encouraged Judas to march at 
once to Jerusalem. He gained possession of the city and 
the Temple, and after purifying both from every trace of 
the Syrian idolatries, the Temple was consecrated anew to 
the service of God, and the daily sacrifices and worship were 
resumed after a calamitous interruption of three years. This 
new dedication of the Temple and revival of their worship, 
was ever after celebrated by a feast which occurred about the 
winter solstice. John x. 22. 

4. The J ews were not, however, able to expel the Syrian 
garrison from the fortress which had been built by Apollonius 
to overlook the Temple. They therefore protected the Temple 
itself by siurouncling it with high walls and towers, within 
which they kept a valiant and watchful garrison. 

5. In the east, Antiochus appears to have been little 
more successful than were his generals in the west. He was 
repulsed in an attempt to plunder the rich temple at Elymais 
in Persia, and withdrew in anger and shame to Ecbatana. 
There news reached him of the repeated losses which his arms 



352 



DEATH OF ANTIOCHUS. 



had sustained in Judaea, and that the country was in pos- 
session of the Jews. On receiving this intelligence, his rage 
passed all bounds, and he denounced the most horrible venge- 
ance upon that land and people. But while the words were 
in his mouth, he was smitten with a loathsome and incurable 
disease, in which he lingered under the most excruciating 
torments. In his last days, he confessed to those around 
him that he was smitten by the hand of God, in punishment 
for his desecration of the Temple and his persecution of the 
Jews. "I perceive, therefore," he said, "that for this cause 
these troubles come upon me ; and behold, I perish through 
grief in a strange land." He died in the beginning of B. C. 
164. 

6. Although the Jews were thus delivered from the most 
inveterate enemy they had ever known, the war was still 
carried on by the regent Lysias, in the name of Antiochns 
Eupator, a child, the son of the late king. But although 
this army was much stronger than the last, it was completely 
routed ; and then the regent, confessing the wickedness of 
contending with the mighty God who defended the Jewish 
people, offered peace on reasonable terms, which the Jewish 
leaders thought it right to accept, and in obtaining which the 
Koman ambassadors used their commanding influence. The 
high-priest Menelaus took this occasion to return home and 
resume his pontificate. 2 Mace. xi. 

7. The Jews at Jerusalem were, however, still much an- 
noyed by the presence of the Syrian garrison in the castle. 
Judas, therefore, laid siege to this fortress, determined, if 
possible, to rid the capital of so serious an inconvenience. 
There were many apostate Jews in the castle ; and they, 
dreading the treatment they might expect from the orthodox 
Jews, if it fell into their hands, withdrew secretly and 
hastened to Antioch, where their representations invited the 
regent and the young king to undertake a new war against 
Judasa. The army which was raised for this purpose, was 
evidently intended to extinguish the nation. It consisted of 
100,000 foot, 20,000 horse, 32 war elephants, and 300 chariots 
armed with scythes. With this mighty host, Lysias pro- 
ceeded southward and besieged Bethsura, a strong fortress 
which had been built to protect the frontier towards Idumaea. 



JUDAS DEFEATS THE SYRIANS. 



353 



Judas could not induce his men to risk a pitched battle with 
such a host ; but they fell upon the invaders by night, and 
before they knew who had entered their camp, four thousand 
of them were dead men. The Jews drew off in safety by 
break of day. The next morning they came to battle ; and 
Judas, to avoid being surrounded by the Syrians, was forced 
to withdraw to Jerusalem, which had by this time been put 
in a good state of defence. In this battle Judas lost his 
brother Eleazer, who was crushed to death by the fall of an 
elephant, which he himself slew under the erroneous impres- 
sion that the king rode upon it. 1 Mace. vi. 18-47 ; 2 Mace, 
xiii. 15-22. 

8. The Jews were now in great peril ; for the Syrian 
army, after taking Bethsura, and placing a strong garrison 
there, advanced to Jerusalem, which they closely besieged, 
and, in all human probability, would have soon taken. But 
at this juncture the regent received intelligence that Philip, a 
rival regent, whom the late king had appointed on his death- 
bed, had entered Syria with a large army, and had taken 
possession of Antioch. He therefore concluded a hasty treaty 
with the Jews, granting all their demands. He then threw 
down the strong walls around the Temple mount, in violation 
of the treaty, and hastened to encounter Philip, whom he 
utterly overthrew (1 Mace. vi. 48-65; 2 Mace. xiii. 3-23). 
Menelaus, the apostate high-priest, who had again deserted 
to the Syrians, and had encouraged the expedition in the 
hope of obtaining the government of Judaea, being viewed by 
them as the real author of their disasters, was, by the royal 
order, smothered, by being thrown into an ash-pit at Berea. 
Judas himself was now recognised as governor of Judaea ; 
and it is from this year (B. C. 163) that his accession to the 
principality is usually dated. 



Q 2 



354 



CHAPTER II. B. C. 163 to 143. 



ASMONEAN PRINCES. 

B. C. j 

Judas Maccabeus . . 163 
Alcimus, Hish-priest . 163 | 

Jonathan 160 

High-priest . . . 153 



Ptolemy Philometor 
Ptolemy Physcon 



Demetrius Soter 
Alexander Balas 
Demetrius Xicator . 
Antiochus (VI.) Theos. 



GENERAL HISTORY. 



162 
150 
143 
144 



1 Tryphon 143 



Demetrius Soter defeated and killed by Alexander Balas 
Third Punic War begins, and lasts three years . . . . 
Carthage destroyed by Scipio Nasica 



150 
149 
148 

Corinth destroyed by L. ilummius 148 



1. The vacant high-priesthood was given to Alcimus or 
Jacimus, to the exclusion of the rightful successor, Onias, the 
son of that Onias who had been murdered at Antioch at the 

instigation of Mene- 
laus. This disap- 
pointment induced 
Onias to retire into 
Egypt. He was there 
received with favour 
by Ptolemy Philome- 
tor, and used his in- 
fluence to obtain 
leave to found a 
temple for the nume- 
rous Jews in that 
country. It was 
built at On or Helio- 
polis, " the city of the 
sun," after the model 
of the Temple at Je- 
rusalem, but not so 
large or magnificent. 
Onias was appointed 
high - priest : there 
were also inferior priests and Levites, and the services were 
conducted as at Jerusalem, until the time of Vespasian, in 
whose reign both temples were destroyed. 




143. On or Heliopohs. 



JUDAS DEFEATS ALCIMUS. 



355 



2. Alcimus, the new high-priest, was a man of loose 
principles, which, with his known attachment to the Grecian 
idolatries, rendered him so obnoxious to the Jews, that they 
very soon expelled him from the land. 

3. Shortly after, Antiochns Eupator, and the regent Lysias, 
were defeated and slain by Demetrius Soter, the rightful heir 
to the throne,* who had hitherto been detained as a hostage 
at Borne. This prince was no sooner established on the 
Syrian throne than all the Jewish traitors and apostates, with 
Alcimus at their head, came around him with many grievous 
complaints against Judas and his party ; and Alcimus made 
it appear that his own expulsion was an act of strong con- 
tempt towards that power by which he had been invested 
with the pontificate. Listening to these complaints, Deme- 
trius re-appointed Alcimus to the high-priesthood, and sent 
Bacchides, the governor of Mesopotamia, to re-instate him in 
his office, and take vengeance on his enemies. This com- 
mander entered the country without any hostile manifesta- 
tions ; and many Jews, who, relying on his fair professions, 
had put themselves into his power, were treacherously slain. 
Bacchides then, having met with no opposition, left the coun- 
try in charge of Alcimus, with a force considered sufficient to 
secure him in his place. But he had no sooner withdrawn, 
than Judas, who had retired before him, appeared again, and 
easily recovered the position which he had seemed for the 
moment to abandon. Alcimus, being unable to offer any 
effectual resistance, again repaired to Antioch, with renewed 
and more earnest complaints to the king. Another and more 
powerful army was accordingly sent into Judaea, under Nicanor. 
He was twice defeated by Judas — the last time so completely, 
that of 35,000 men, not one escaped alive to bear the tidings 
to Antioch. This great victory procured the nation an in- 
terval of rest, and was deemed of so much importance by 
the Jews, that they established an annual festival of com- 
memoration. 1 Mace. vii. 4-50 ; 2 Mace. xiv. 2-16 ; xv. 
1-37. 

4. A step was then taken by Judas, which some have 
praised, and others blamed ; but which will probably be con- 

* Demetrius was the son of Seleucus Philopator, who was succeeded by his brother 
Antiochns Epiphanes, who left the crown to his son Antiochus Eupator. 



356 



DEATH OF JUDAS. 



sidered, by those who are the most intimately acquainted with 
the history of the time, to be the best which could have been 
taken under all the circumstances. He sent an embassy to 
Rome, to solicit the friendship of that powerful nation, whose 
influence had for some time been paramount in Syria and in 
Egypt. It quite consisted with the policy of the Roman 
senate to weaken the great states, by forming alliances with 
the lesser nations which depended on them. The Jewish 
ambassadors were therefore received with favour, and the 
Romans readily concluded a treaty, which could not possibly 
be injurious to themselves, and might yet be of some advan- 
tage to the Jews. The immediate result of this alliance was, 
that the senate sent a missive to Demetrius, commanding 
him, on pain of their displeasure, to abstain from persecuting 
the Jews in time to come. But before the ambassadors re- 
turned, the valiant Judas had met his death, in a desperate 
conflict with Bacchides and Alcimus, who had been sent to 
avenge the destruction of Nicanor and his host. The brothers 
of Judas, Simon, and Jonathan, having made a truce, depo- 
sited the body of the hero in the family sepulchre at Modin, 
which was not far off, and all Israel mourned for him many 
days, crying, " How is the valiant fallen, that delivered 
Israel ! " 

5. The death of their great leader threw the Jews into 
such consternation, that the Syrians easily reaped the fruits 
of their victory. They reduced Jerusalem, and slew many of 
the adherents of the Maccabees ; and Alcimus was once more 
restored to the high-priesthood. Incapable of profiting by 
experience, this man persisted in his former courses. He 
made many innovations in the religion of his country, in order 
to produce a greater conformity to the practices of the heathen. 
At length, with the view of admitting the Gentiles equally 
with the Jews to the inner courts of the temple, he proceeded 
to break down the separating wall, when he was suddenly 
cut off in the full career of his guilt, and died in the most 
dreadful agonies. On the occurrence of this event, Bacchides, 
who had remained in the country, returned to Syria, and the 
Jews were left for two years unmolested. Jonathan, the 
youngest brother of Judas, who had been elected by the or- 
thodox Jews as their prince and leader in his place, employed 



JONATHAN HIGH-PRIEST. 



357 



this interval in establishing a regular government, in strength- 
ening the walls and fortifications of Jerusalem, and in effect- 
ing various important reforms in the civil and ecclesiastical 
affairs of his country. 

6. After two years, the adverse faction, growing uneasy 
at the prospect of continued peace, recommenced their opera- 
tions. They conspired to seize Jonathan, and all his adherents 
throughout the land, in one night ; and invited Bacchides to 
aid their project by a military force. This became known to 
Jonathan, who, after putting fifty of the leading conspirators 
to death, withdrew with Simon and his friends to Bethbasi in 
the wilderness, not feeling strong enough to meet Bacchides 
in the field. This was a strong post ; and the dilapidated 
fortifications having been put into complete repair, the be- 
sieged were enabled to hold out so long, and so to harass the 
enemy by daring sallies and excursions, that Bacchides at 
length grew weary of an expedition from which so little 
honour was to be won, and put those to death who had en- 
gaged him in it. In this mood he listened to the overtures of 
peace made by Jonathan, and, after an exchange of prisoners, 
withdrew his forces, engaging to trouble the land no more. 

7. Three years after this, a conjuncture of affairs arose in 
Syria highly favourable to the Jewish cause. A claim was 
set up by Alexander Balas to the 
crown of Syria, which not only 
gave the reigning king, Demetrius, 
sufficient employment for all his 
disposable forces, but made it the 
interest of the competitors to out- 
bid each other for the support and 
favour of so warlike a people as 
the Jews had now become. Jona- 
than had, meanwhile, been pro- 144. Alexander Balas. 

ceeding quietly with his improvements and repairs, which, 
while they enhanced his reputation, gave the promise of sta- 
bility to his government. When the competitors began to 
court his friendship, the remembrance of the wrongs which 
Demetrius had inflicted upon the nation, no less than good 
policy, induced him to espouse the cause of Alexander, who, 
in return, offered him the high-priesthood. That office had 




358 



JONATHAN GOES TO ANTIOCH. 



been vacant seven years, and, with the unanimous consent 
and approbation of the people, it was accepted by Jonathan/ 
It will be remembered that the Maccabees were descended 
from the eldest branch of the family of Aaron. Together 
with the offer of the priesthood, Balas sent to Jonathan a 
purple robe and a crown, as ethnarch or prince of Judaea. 
The chief ecclesiastical, as well as civil power, was then, with 
the full sanction of public opinion, assumed by Jonathan, in 
the seventh month of the same year, at the Feast of Taber- 
nacles (B. C. 153), and remained in the family until the 
usurpation of Herod. 

8. Hearing of this, king Demetrius, resolving to outbid 
Alexander, sent a long list of privileges and immunities 
which he would grant to the Jews, and of honours which 
he would bestow upon Jonathan. But, distrusting his sin- 
cerity, the people, when the letter was read to them, agreed 
with their leaders in adhering to the cause of Alexander 
Balas. That cause was successful ; and when Alexander 
was at Ptolemais, to espouse the king of Egypt's daughter, 
he gratefully acknowledged the efficient assistance he had re- 
ceived from Jonathan dming the struggle, and treated him 
with distinguished honours. 

9. Prosperity ruined Alexander Balas. The misconduct 
of the ministers to whom he abandoned all the affairs of go- 
vernment, alienated his friends and encouraged his enemies, 
and in the fifth year his head was laid at the feet of the 
younger Demetrius, the son of Demetrius Soter, by Zabdiel, 
with whom, after all had been lost, the royal fugitive had 
sought a refuge in Arabia. 

10. As Jonathan had remained true to Balas in this 
struggle, his enemies hailed the success of Demetrius Xicator 
as the signal for his overthrow ; and, through their represen- 
tations, he was summoned to Antioch. He went, carrying 
with him valuable presents, and conducted himself so dis- 
creetly, that, so far from disturbing him, Demetrius not only 
conni-med him in the dignities he had received from Balas, 
but added all the valuable privileges which had been offered 
by his father, when he had endeavoured to outbid Balas for 
the friendship of Jonathan. 

11. Among his other public acts, Jonathan renewed the 



DEATH OF JONATHAN. 



359 



treaty with the Eomans, and formed another with the Lace- 
daemonians. His government of seventeen years was in the 
highest degree beneficial to his country, and tended much to 
give to the peculiar institutions of the people, which he 
laboured to renovate, that determinate character which was 
essential to their continuance. His end was afflicting. Dis- 
gusted by the perfidy of Demetrius, who cancelled the privi- 
leges he had granted, as soon as he was relieved from the 
danger by which he was threatened, the Jews eagerly 
espoused the cause of a youug son of Alexander Balas, who 
was brought forward by Tryphon, formerly governor of An- 
tioch. Eventually this youth was raised to the throne, under 
the name of Antiochus Epiphanes. But Tryphon had used 
him only for his own objects, and contemplated his removal 
to make room for himself. To this he saw an obstacle in the 
known attachment of Jonathan to the house of Balas ; and 
this obstacle he resolved to remove by his death, which he 
treacherously and barbarously accomplished at Ptolemais, 
w here Jonathan was slain, with a thousand men who attended 
him as guards. This was speedily followed by the murder of 
the young king ; and Tryphon placed on his own head the 
blood- stained crown. 




360 



CHAPTER III. B. C. 143 to 78. 



ASMONEAN PRINCES. 

Simon 143 

John Hyrcanus ... 135 
Aristobulus .... 107 
Alexander Jannseus . 106 
Queen Alexandra . . 79 



EGYPT. 

B.C. 

Ptolemy Physcon . . 144 
Ptolemy Lathyrus . . 116 
Ptolemy Alexander . 88 



SYRIA. 

B.C. 



Tryphon 143 

Antiochus (VII.), Si- 

detes 139 

Demetrius Nicator II. 130 
Alexander Zebina . . 127 
Antiochus (VIII.), 

Grypus .... 123 
Antiochus (IX.), Cy- 

zicenus .... Jll 
Antiochus VIII. and 
IX. contemporane- 
ously 100 

Philip 'and Antiochus 

(X.), Pius .... 93 
Demetrius Euceerus . 92 
Tigranes, King of Ar- 
menia 83 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

B.C. 

Scipio Nasica . . . 136 
Tiberius Gracchus, tri- 
bune 133 

Mithridates the Great 123 
Caius Gracchus, tribune 121 
Caius Marius, tribune 119 
Jugurthine war begins 

(5 years) .... Ill 
Julius Caesar born . . 100 
The civil war between 
Marius and Sylla (6 

years) 88 

Sylla, dictator (3 

years ... S2 to 79 
Cicero's first Oration . 81 



1. When the Jews heard of the massacre at Ptolemais, 
and the death of their honoured high-priest, they were filled 
with consternation and sorrow. To avert the dangers which 
this state of discouragement threatened, Simon, the only sur- 
viving brother of Judas and Jonathan, called the people to- 
gether in the Temple, and offered himself as their leader. 
The people were encouraged and animated by the terms in 
which the offer was made, and they accepted it with joy. The 
first act of Simon was to put the country in a state of com- 
plete defence, by repairing all the fortresses, and storing them 
with provisions and munitions of war. Then considering 
that, bad as the conduct of Demetrius Nicator had been, that 
of Tryphon was much worse, Simon sent an embassy to the 
former, offering to acknowledge his sovereignty, and to assist 
him against Tryphon. Demetrius, who led an indolent and 
dissipated life at Laodicea, and left the war to his generals, 
saw the value of this offer, which he gladly accepted, and, in 
return, agreed to acknowledge Simon as the high-priest and 
prince of the Jews, to relinquish all claim upon them for 
tribute, customs, and taxes, and to grant an amnesty for all 
past offences against himself. This being committed to writing 
in the form of a royal edict, and properly ratified, amounted 



SIMON MURDERED. 



361 



to a charter of freedom and independence ; and was so con- 
sidered by both parties. Accordingly, with this year (B. C. 
143), the Jews commenced a new epoch, dating from it as 
from the first year of " the freedom of Jerusalem. " This era 
is used on the coins of Simon, as well as by Josephus, and by 
the author of the first book of Maccabees. 

2. The next care of Simon was to reduce the fortresses 
which still held out ; and he had the inexpressible satisfac- 
tion of compelling the Syrian garrison in the citadel of Jeru- 
salem, which had so long been a standing grievance to the 
Maccabees, to surrender. He made his son John commander 
of the forces, and ultimately sent him with king Demetrius to 
the wars in the East, where, from his exploits in Hyrcania, 
he acquired the surname of Hyrcanus. In the third year of 
his reign, he renewed the alliance with the Eomans and La- 
cedaemonians, and sent, as a present to the former, a great 
shield of gold, worth fifty thousand pounds. The senate was 
pleased, and wrote to all the kings in these parts, command- 
ing them to consider 

the Jews as friends c^f^N « » 



firmed to Simon all ^ (vTixwy 7^ i^ cl^jl — 

the grants of his pre- 145 ' Pre- 

decessor, and added the regal prerogative of coining money. 
When, however, he had subdued and slain the usurper Try- 
phon, he altered his tone, and demanded back the strongholds 
which Simon had taken, and the tribute which had been re- 
linquished. He sent a powerful army to enforce his demand ; 
which was met and defeated by the Jews under the conduct 
of Simon's two eldest sons, John and Judas. This victory 
procured an interval of repose, during which Simon and two 
of his sons were treacherously murdered, while on a visit at 
Jericho to his son-in-law, Ptolemy, who aspired to his office 



and allies of the Ro- 
mans. The next year 
Antiochus Sidetes as- 
cended the Syrian 
throne, his brother 
Demetrius being held 
in bondage by the 
Parthians. He con- 




362 



JERUSALEM BESIEGED BY ANTCOCHUS. 



and power (B.C. 136). He sent also to destroy John Hyrea- 
nus, who, however, had timely warning, and fled to Jerusalem, 
where the people elected him in his father's room, and shut 
their gates against the murderer. Baffled in this, Ptolemy 
applied to Antiochus for an army to assist him in bringing 
the country again under the Syrian yoke. Without wait- 
ing for his movements, Hyrcanus marched against him, and 
besieged him in a fortress near Jericho, to which he had fled. 
The siege was, however, broken up when the sabbatical year 
opened, and Ptolemy sought refuge beyond the Jordan until 
Antiochus should arrive (B.C. 135). What afterwards be- 
came of him is not known. 

3. Antiochus arrived soon after, with a large army, and 
besieged Hyrcanus in Jerusalem, which was reduced to great 
extremities for want of provisions. When the Feast of Taber- 
nacles approached, Hyrcanus begged a week's respite for the 
celebration of the festival. This was not only granted, but 
the king supplied victims for the sacrifices, and was in the 
end so much mollified that he concluded a peace, although he 
knew that the city lay at his mercy. But he again reduced 
the country under the Syrian dominion, dismantled Jerusa- 
lem, and exacted tribute for the fortresses which were held 
out of Judaea. Antiochus was, not long after, killed in a 
battle with the Parthians, from whom Demetrius contrived to 
escape. Of the confusion occasioned by these events, Hyrca- 
nus availed himself to enlarge his territories, as well as to re- 
cover the independence of Judaea ; and no sort of service, tri- 
bute, or homage, was ever after paid by him or his descend- 
ants to the kings of Syria. 

4. The next exploit of their prince must have been very 
acceptable to the antipathies of the Jews ; for he invaded 
Samaria, took Shechem, the chief seat of the Samaritans, and 
destroyed their temple on Mount Gerizim. 

5. The next year (B.C. 129), Hp-canus attacked the Idu- 
means (Edomites), who, during the Captivity, had established 
themselves in the southern part of Judaea, having Hebron for 
their capital, and had since maintained themselves there. 
Having subdued them, Hyrcanus gave them the choice of 
adopting the Jewish religion, or of quitting the country and 
seeking a settlement elsewhere. They accepted the former 



THE SHOET REIGN OF ARISTOBULUS. 



363 



alternative, and afterwards gradually incorporated with the 
Jews, so as not ultimately to be distinguishable from them. 

6. In the course of the two following years, two several 
embassies were sent to Kome, and obtained decrees highly fa- 
vourable to Hyrcanus and to the Jewish nation, chiefly as 
securing them against the aggressions of their neighbours. 
By his alliances, his consolidation of the government, his con- 
quests, and the wealth which they afforded, Hyrcanus suc- 
ceeded in raising the nation to a position of much greater 
dignity and power than it had occupied since the return from 
Babylon. After enjoying several years of peace and honour, 
he died B.C. 106. 

7. The principality was left by Hyrcanus to his wife ; 
but the government was seized by his eldest son Aristobulus ; 
and as his mother refused to relinquish her claim, he sent her 
to prison, where he left her to die of hunger. He also im- 
prisoned the three youngest of his brothers ; but shewed some 
affection for Antigonus, the next in age to himself, and em- 
ployed him in public business. Aristobulus was the first who 
assumed the royal title and diadem. He extended his domi- 
nion by subduing the Itureans, who, like the Edomites before, 
chose rather to accept the Jewish religion than to abandon 
their country. The short reign of Aristobulus was brought 
to its close through his remorse and horror at discovering 
that it was an unjust suspicion which had caused him to put to 
death Antigonus, the brother whom he had trusted and loved. 

8. Immediately after his death, his three imprisoned 
brothers were liberated, and the eldest of them, Alexander 
Jannams, was advanced to the throne. He had talents for 
war, which enabled him to enlarge his dominions, although, 
in other respects, his reign was far from happy. He sub- 
dued the Philistines, who accepted the alternative of adopt- 
ing the Jewish religion. Moab, Ammon, Gilead, and part 
of Arabia Petrasa, also yielded to his arms. This reign was, 
however, much troubled by the Pharisees, a sect whose name 
occurs first in the time of Plyrcanus, but who must have 
arisen earlier, as they had then attained to much power 
and importance. Their turbulent character and lofty preten- 
sions induced Alexander to follow the example of Hyrcanus 
in attaching himself to the rival sect of the Sadducees. This, 



364 



DEATH OF ALEXANDER JAN1LEUS. 



as well as the general disfavour with, which he regarded the 
principles of the more powerful body, led them to detest his 
person and government ; and they lost no opportunity of 
exasperating the mind of the people against him by vilifying 
his administration, and by all sorts of charges and insinua- 
tions against his conduct and character. His return with loss 
and disgrace from the siege of Amathus beyond the Jordan, 
damaged his reputation with the people, and gave increased 
boldness to the Pharisees. At length they openly assaulted 
him while engaged in the most sacred act of the ritual ser- 
vice. At the feast of tabernacles, as he stood at the altar, 
performing the functions of his office, the Pharisees, and the 
multitude incited by them, cast at him the citrons which the 
Jews usually carried hi their hands on that occasion. This 
was the commencement of a civil war, which lasted nine 
years, in which all parties suffered, and in which above 
50,000 persons perished. During this war, both parties 
committed the most shocking barbarities on each other. The 
concluding act of it was the taking of Bethone by Alexander. 
He then brought 800 of the prisoners to Jerusalem, and 
caused them all to be crucified in one day, and their wives 
and children put to death before their eyes ; while he sat 
feasting with his women in view of the horrid spectacle. 

9. Alexander spent three years more in reducing the for- 
tresses which had fallen into hostile hands during these 
troubles, and in extending his power beyond the Jordan ; 
where, it should be observed, the country was chiefly occu- 
pied by, or under the control of, tribes of Arabian origin, 
which had settled in these parts ; and hence the whole coun- 
try beyond Jordan, excepting the northernmost part, came 
ultimately to be considered as part of Arabia, and is so named 
by ancient geographers. 

10. Eeturning victorious to Jerusalem, Alexander aban- 
doned himself to luxury, drunkenness, and sloth, which 
brought on a quartan ague, under which he languished for 
three years and then died. B.C. 82. 

11. Before his death, Alexander delivered the govern- 
ment to his wife Alexandra, and appointed her the guardian 
of the young princes. Following the dying counsels of her 
late husband, she convened the leaders of the Pharisees, and 



PERSECUTION OF THE SADDUCEE5. 



365 



committed to them the management of affairs. With this 
they were so wonderfully mollified, that they not only secured 
her own peaceful succession, but bestowed a most magnificent 
funeral on their old enemy. Being now the dominant party, 
and, in fact, greatly exceeding the other party in popularity 
and numbers, the queen soon became a mere tool in their 
hands. She was obliged to yield to their most unreasonable 
demands ; and they used their power with no sparing or gentle 
hand. They raised a grievous persecution against the Sad- 
ducees, and, in general, used their authority in a most oppres- 
sive and arbitrary manner, — especially against the former 
friends and adherents of Alexander Jannams. Many of the 
most valuable persons, finding that the queen was unable to 
protect them, abandoned Jerusalem, and withdrew to obscure 
towns. 



366 



CHAPTEE IV. B.C. 78 to 54. 



ASAMONEAN PRINCES. 

B. C 

Q. Alexandra, with H; 

canus II. as priest 
Hyrcanus II. king . . t>y 
Aristobulus .... 69 
Hyrcanus II. restored . 63 



78 I 



Ptolemy Auletes 



ROMAN GOVERNORS. 



Gabinius 
Crassus 



STRIA. 

B. C. 

Antiochus (XI.) Asia- 
ticus 69 

Dethroned by Pompey, 
and Syria made a Ro- 
man province ... 65 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

B 

Spartacus 

Lucullus defeats Mith- 
ridates and Tigranes 

Tlie Cataline conspiracy 

Cicero 

Catullus 

1st Triumvirate : Pom- 
pey, J. Caesar, and 
Crassus 

Cicero banished . . . 

Sallust 



1. Alexandra had two sons. The elder, Hyrcanus, who 
was a man of quiet habits and indolent temper, was raised 
to the high priesthood. The other son, Aristobulus, was of 
a more ardent and impetuous temperament, and took no pains 
to conceal his dislike of his mother's proceedings, and of the 
conduct of the Pharisees. He, with the principal men of the 
party, which had been paramount in the time of his father, 
appeared before the throne, and asked permission to quit the 
country, or to reside in the frontier towns, out of the way 
of the Pharisees. The request was granted, excepting that 
they were not permitted to withdraw to those towns in which 
the queen kept her treasures. Aristobulus was afterwards 
entrusted with some forces to relieve Damascus ; but he 
only used the occasion as an opportunity of making himself 
agTeeable to the soldiers, and returned without haying done 
any thing of importance. After a peaceful reign of nine 
years, Queen Alexandra fell sick, and died, after haying, in 
her last days, as one who had nothing more to do with go- 
yernment, refused to nominate her successor. 

2. The Pharisees, however, placed Hyrcanus II. on the 
throne. But he reigned only three months ; for his brother 
Aristobulus, haying got possession of most of the fortresses of 
the kingdom, during the illness of his mother, advanced his 
own claims to the sovereignty. The people, who had grown 



ARISTOBULUS DEFEATED BY ARETAS. 



367 



weary of the Pharisees, and knew that the imbecile Hyrca- 
nns was entirely in their hands, supported this movement ; 
the soldiers also de- 
serted to the popular 
Aristobulus. Hyrca- 
nus, with little reluc- 
tance, then resigned 
the - mitre and the 
crown, and withdrew 
into private life, which 
better suited his cha- 
racter and habits. 

3. In his retire- 
ment, Hyrcanus fell 
under the designing 
counsels of Antipater 
(originally Antipas), 
an Idumean, who had 
been much in the 
confidence of Alexan- 
der Jannams and his 
wife Alexandra : by 
them he had been 
appointed governor of 
Idumea,in which office 
he had amassed con- 




146. Modem Asiatic Crowns. 



siderable wealth. By repeated solicitations, and by persuading 
him that his brother sought his life, this person at length in- 
duced Hyrcanus to escape by night to Petra, the seat of the 
Arabian king Aretas, and claim his protection and assist- 
ance. Aretas espoused his cause, and brought him back to 
Judaea with an army of 50,000 men ; and being joined by 
many Jews of the same party, he gave battle to Aristobulus, 
who was defeated, and obliged to retreat to the temple-mount, 
which had by this time become a strong fortress. The siege 
of this fortress was carried on with the animosity which has 
always been usual in civil wars. Heathen kings had almost 
invariably, during a siege, allowed the lambs for sacrifice at 
the great festivals to be introduced into the temple ; but this 
was refused by the party of Hyrcanus, at the passover, al- 



368 



AEISTOBULUS DEFEATS AEETAS. 



though Aristobulus gave, over the walls, money to pay for 
them. 

4. At this time, the Eomans, in accordance with the na- 
tional policy for establishing a universal empire, had a large 
army in Asia, under the command of the great Pompey, who 
was warring in Armenia against Tigranes and Mithridates, 
while some of his officers were employed in Syria. In this 
emergency, Aristobulus sent to Severus the Eoman general, 
who had taken possession of Damascus, imploring his assist- 
ance against his brother, not forgetting to send a present of 
400 talents with the application. Although Hyrcanus offered 
to buy his aid at the same price, the Eoman preferred the 
cause of Aristobulus, as one whom it might be the most easy 



king obeyed at once ; but, on his retreat, he was overtaken 
by Aristobulus, and was defeated in a bloody conflict, in 
which many of the friends of Hyrcanus perished. Being thus 
master of the country, Aristobulus anxiously endeavoured to 
procure from the Eomans a recognition of his title. Accord- 
ingly, when Pompey soon after came to Damascus, and twelve 
kings and many ambassadors appeared before him, the am- 
bassadors of Aristobulus were among the number, bearing, as 
a present, an exquisitely wrought vine of pure gold, valued at 
500 talents. His suit was waived for the time, and although 
his present was accepted, not his own name but that of his 
father was inscribed upon it, as the donor. 

5. The next year, when both Hyrcanus and Aristobulus 
sent ambassadors to Pompey, inviting him to consider and 
decide their differences, he put them off to the year ensuing, 
when they again appeared before him, each furnished with a 
multitude of witnesses to prove his claim ; while another body 
of Jews came and accused both of them of having changed 
the government, which had formerly been administered by 
high-priests, and not by kings. Hyrcanus urged his right as 
the elder born ; which right, Aristobulus contended, was neu- 




to assist, and the most difficult 
to subdue ; and, therefore, he 
commanded Aretas instantly 
to withdraw his forces from 
Judaea, under pain of a war 
with the Eomans. The Arabian 



TEMPLE BESIEGED AND TAKEN. 



369 



tralised by his incompetency. Pompey, however, still left 
the matter undecided, until he should be at leisure to come 
himself and settle it at Jerusalem. But the impetuous Aris- 
tobulus, perceiving that imbecility in a dependent prince 
was far from being objectionable to the Romans, and that the 
ultimate decision was likely to be against him, abruptly with- 
drew to make preparations for war. Enraged at this, Pom- 
pey, on his return from an expedition against the Nabathsean 
Arabs, marched into Judaea, and summoned Aristobulus, who 
was in the strong fortress of Alexandrium, to appear before 
him. He obeyed ; and Pompey no sooner had him in his 
power, than he compelled him to sign an order for all the for- 
tresses to be given up to the Romans. He was then libe- 
rated ; when, resenting this treatment, he fled to Jerusalem, 
determined to stand a siege. But when Pompey advanced, 
the gates were opened to his troops by the party of Hyrca- 
nus ; and Aristobulus and his party withdrew once more into 
the Temple, determined to hold out to the last. Here they 
were closely besieged by Pompey, who found his proceedings 
greatly facilitated by the strictness with which the Jewish 
people observed their Sabbath. It was true, that since the 
Maccabrean wars, they would on that day stand on their own 
defence ; yet they still considered it unlawful to take any 
steps to hinder the works or operations of the enemy. The 
Romans were, therefore, allowed, without the slightest moles- 
tation, to carry on dining the Sabbath-days their preparations 
for the assaults of the ensuing weeks ; by which means they 
at length carried the Temple by assault, after a siege of three 
months, on the very day which the Jews observed as a fast 
for the taking of the city and Temple by Nebuchadnezzar. 
A dreadful carnage now ensued, during which the officiating 
priests continued, with the utmost composure, their solemn 
services at the altar, until they were themselves smitten down 
before it without resistance. 

6. Pompey had the temerity to enter the Temple itself, 
even to the most holy place, with some of his officers ; no 
one venturing to oppose the act. But curious observers have 
remarked, that he was ever after an unprosperous man ; and 
this is no doubt true in itself, whether it was a consequence 
which resulted from this sacrilege or not. In the sanctuary, 



370 ALEXANDER DEFEATED BY GABINIUS. 

the Koman noted with a curious eye the objects presented to 
his view; but he left untouched all the sacred utensils, and even 
the treasures of the Temple, which amounted to ten thousand 
talents of gold. The walls and fortifications of Jerusalem 
were then demolished by order of Pompey ; who also made 
no ceremony in reducing the recent " allies' 1 of Eome to the 
condition of a tributary people. He indeed appointed Hyrca- 
nus to be high-priest and prince of the country ; but he re- 
quired him to pay tribute to the Komans, and forbade him to 
assume the crown, or extend his territories beyond their an- 
cient limits. The external conquests of the principality were 
added to Syria, which was erected into a Eoman province, 
and left under the dominion of Scaurus as prefect, with two 
legions to preserve order. To this date all agree in referring 
the subjection of Judsea to the Eomans. When Pompey left 
Palestine, he took with him Aristobulus, with his two sons, 
Alexander and Antigonus, and two of his daughters, to grace 
his triumph at Eome. 

7. Alexander, the eldest son of Aristobulus, escaped from 
Pompey during the journey to Eome, and got back to his 
own country. He must, however, have kept quiet for a time, 
as we do not hear of him till the year B.C. 57, when he had 
found means to collect a considerable force, with which he 
seized and garrisoned several strong fortresses, and from them 
ravaged the whole country. Hyrcanus had no means to op- 
pose him, and as Jerusalem would probably be the next point 
of attack, he wished to rebuild the walls of the city, but was 
forbidden by the jealousy of the Eomans. On his calling 
upon them for succour, however, the pro- consul, Gabinius, 
marched an army into Judaea, and was accompanied by the 
celebrated Mark Antony, the commander of his cavalry. The 
Eoman troops were joined by those of Hyrcanus, under An- 
tipater ; and in the battle which followed, Alexander was' 
completely routed. He sought refuge in the strong fortress 
of Alexandrium, whence, through the mediation of his mother, 
he concluded a peace with Gabinius, on condition of surren- 
dering the fortresses held by him, which were then demolished. 

8. The general then employed himself in settling the 
country, after the manner of the Eomans. He was probably, 
in many respects, guided by the advice of Antipater, who 



CRASSUS PLUNDERS THE TEMPLE. 



371 



made it his policy to ingratiate himself with the Komans. 
The most important measure was the change of the govern- 
ment to an aristocracy. Before this, the administration of 
affairs had been conducted by two sanhedrim, or councils, or 
courts of justice : — the lesser consisting of twenty- three mem- 
bers, existed in every city, and all these local sanhedrims 
were subject to the jurisdiction of the Grand Sanhedrim of 
seventy-two members, which sat at Jerusalem. These were 
put down by Gabinius, who, in their place, established five 
separate and independent tribunals — at Jerusalem, Jericho, 
Gadara, Amathus, and Sepphoris, — giving to each the power 
of administering summary justice upon the inhabitants of the 
several districts. This threw the whole power into the hands 
of the nobles, who presided in these courts ; whereas by the 
former practice the power had ultimately centred in the prince. 
This, or anything that tended to lower the regal principle of 
government, was no doubt acceptable to the Jews in general ; 
for they were unwilling to have any king not of the house of 
David to reign over them, especially as they were at this 
time anxiously expecting the appearance of the promised 
Messiah. 

9. The next event of importance is the re-appearance of 
Aristobulus, who, with his younger son Antigonus, escaped 
from Eome, and returned to his own land, where he soon got 
together a considerable number of adherents, and excited a 
revolt, which might have been dangerous, but for the inter- 
ference of the Eomans, who soon defeated his forces, and 
again made him and his son prisoners. But in sending them 
back to Eome, Gabinius made such a representation of the 
services of the mother in suppressing Alexander's insurrection, 
that the senate liberated the family, and only detained Aris- 
tobulus. 

10. Not long after this, Gabinius was succeeded in the 
government of Syria by the celebrated triumvir Crassus, whose 
insatiable avarice is well known to the students of Eoman 
history. He soon visited Jerusalem with a body of soldiers, 
and plundered the temple of all the treasures which Pompey 
had spared, to the value of two millions sterling. His ter- 
rible overthrow and death, in the ensuing year, was deemed 
by the Jews a judgment upon him for this sacrilege. 



372 



CHAPTER V. B.C. 54 to 37. 



THE JEWS. 

B. C. 

Uyrcamis II. 

Antigonus 40 

Antigonus beheaded ; 
Eud of Asaiuonean 
Dynastv .... 37 



SYRIA. 

B.C. 

Roman Governors. 

Bibulus 51 

Q. Metellus Scipio . . 50 

Sextus Csesar .... -17 

Cassius 4i 

Ventidius ;8 



EGYPT. 

B.C. 

Ptolemy Auletcs. 
Cleopatra 51 

ROME. 

Julias Csesar .... 38 
II. Triumvirate — Octa- 
vius — Mark Autony 
— Lepidus . . .38 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

B.C. 



Syria invaded by the Parthiatis ... 50 

Battle of Pharsalia 49 

Cuto kills himself at Utica .... 47 

Csesar reforms the Romau Calendar . 4(5 

Cffisnr slain in the Senate-house . . 44 

Battle of Philippi 42 

The Parthians make themselves mas- 
ters of Syria and Asia Minor . . 40 
The Parthians defeated and expelled 
by Ventidius 39 



PERSONS. 

B.C. 



Cornelius Nepos 50 

Varro 49 

Diodorus Siculus 44 

Tragus Pompeius 41 

Caius Cassius, ob 42 

Marcus Brutus, oh 42 



1. In the Roman civil war which broke out between 
Ponrpey and Julius Csesar, the latter, thinking to promote 
his own interests and to disturb those of his rival in Syria, 
liberated Aristobulus, and sent him home with two legions of 
soldiers to reclaim the crown. But he was poisoned in the 
way by the adherents of Pompey ; by whom also his son, 
Alexander, who had begun to raise forces to assist his father, 
was seized, brought to Antioch, and after a mock trial, be- 
headed. Two years after, the surviving son, Antigonus, 
presented himself before Caesar when he returned, through 
Judaea, from his campaign in Egypt, and solicited to be re- 
stored to the principality of his father. He mentioned the 
claims of his family, its wrongs, and how much it had 
suffered in his cause. But Caesar was now under a new in- 
fluence, and he therefore not only rejected the petition, but 
treated it as an impertinence. The new influence was that of 
Antipater, who swayed the real power of the province in the 
name of Hyrcanus. He had employed that power and the 
near resources of a neighbour, so much to the advantage of 



HEROD GOVERNOR OF GALILEE. 



373 



the Komans in this campaign, he had devoted himself so 
sedulously to Caesar, and, withal, he had found occasion to 
display so much valour and conduct, that Caesar felt grateful 
to him, and held him in high estimation. 

2. Antipater failed not to employ, for the advancement 
of his own fortunes, the influence he had thus acquired. 
Caesar was induced to confirm to Hyrcanus the full and 
ancient powers of the high-priesthood and the ethnarchy. 
This had the effect of indirectly restoring the regal character 
of the government, which had been impaired by the measures 
of Gabinius, and of destroying the independent jurisdictions 
which he had established. To do this, and to do it without 
a direct decree against a popular measure, appears to have 
been the real object of this restoration. Hyrcanus personally 
derived no increase of power from it ; for at the same time 
Antipater himself, who had before been admitted to the dignity 
of Eoman citizenship, was appointed Koman procurator of 
Judaea, which vested in him all the substantial powers of the 
state. Caesar also granted permission for rebuilding the 
walls of Jerusalem which Pompey had destroyed ; and at 
this and other times, such other signal favours were, through 
Antipater, bestowed by Caesar upon the Jewish nation, that 
in his time the weight of the Eoman yoke was scarcely felt. 
One of the first acts of the new procurator was to raise his 
two sons, Phasael and Herod, to stations of trust and distinc- 
tion. Herod was made governor of Galilee, and Phasael 
governor of Jerusalem. The former exercised himself in 
clearing his province of the bands of daring robbers by 
which it was infested. But his mode of action was so sove- 
reign and arbitrary as to attract the notice of the Sanhedrim, 
which summoned him to Jerusalem to give an account of his 
conduct. He came indeed, but he came clothed in purple, 
with a numerous retinue, and bearing a letter from the pre- 
sident of Syria, with express orders for his acquittal. This, 
with his haughty and imperious carriage, quite intimidated 
the assembly, until an address from one of their number 
kindled their resentment as well at his past as present con- 
duct. Perceiving this, Hyrcanus, who was attached to him, 
adjourned the assembly, and, as advised by that prince, 
Herod fled from the city in the following night, and went to 



374 



ANTIPATEE POISONED. 



Sextus Csesar at Damascus, who bestowed upon him the 
government of Coele- Syria. Burning with resentment, 
Herod would have marched to Jerusalem to punish the 
Sanhedrim and depose Hyrcanus, had not his father and 
brother persuaded him to abandon the design. 

3. The greater struggles and confusions in the state of 
Rome were accompanied by smaller conflicts and troubles in 
Syria and Palestine ; but in all these, it was the lot of the 
family of Antipater to be always uppermost. After the 
assassination of Julius Csesar at Rome by Brutus, Cassius, 
and their confederates, and of his relative Sextus Caesar 
in Syria by Bassns, the flames of war broke forth anew. 
Cassius being, like others, obliged to withdraw before the 
paramount influence of Antony and Octavius in Italy, passed 
over into Syria, and, seizing that province, made head there 
against the proconsul Dolabella. Cassius was obliged to 
raise heavy contributions to maintain the large army he had 
collected. Judaea was assessed in 700 talents ; and Anti- 
pater commissioned Herod to raise one-half, and Malichus, 
one of the principal supporters of Hyrcanus, to collect the 
other. Herod won high favour with Cassius by the speedy 
payment of his portion ; but Malichus, being more dilatory, 
would have been put to death, had not Hyrcanus redeemed 
him by paying 100 talents out of his own coffers. This 
affair seems to have quickened the bad feeling with which 
Malichus and other leading Jews regarded the power and 
authority which Antipater had acquired and was acquiring 
over the nation. They therefore plotted to destroy him and 
his whole family ; and soon after Antipater was poisoned 
with a glass of wine, which the high-priest's brother was in- 
duced to give him at an entertainment in the palace. Herod 
avenged his father, by inducing Cassius to order Malichus to 
be slain at Tyre by the Roman soldiers. The party of 
which Malichus had been the head, countenanced by Hyr- 
canus himself, then made a vehement struggle to relieve 
themselves from the grasp of Antipater's sons. They failed, 
and the failure gave the more strength to Herod and Phasael. 
Herod upbraided Hyrcanus for the part he had taken in this 
affair ; but he did not come to an open rupture with him, as 
he wished to bring into his own family the claims of the 



ANTIGONUS DEFEATED BY HEROD. 



375 



Asamonean house by a marriage with Mariamne, the high- 
priest's accomplished and beautiful grand-daughter. 

4. The party adverse to Herod and Phasael, was, how- 
ever, far from being extinct. It soon found another and 
more dangerous head in the person of Antigonus, that younger 
son of Aristobulus, whom there has been more than one 
occasion to mention. He came to claim his father's throne ; 
and his claim was well supported. But when Antigonus 
arrived in Judaea with his army, he received from Herod a 
complete overthrow, and was obliged, for the time, to abandon 
his enterprise. The next year, after the victory over Brutus 
at Philippi, Mark Antony passed over into Asia, to secure that 
important region for the conquerors. It will be remembered 
that this celebrated man had formerly served in Palestine 
with Gabinius, and must have been acquainted with the affairs 
of the Jewish people, and with the persons of their leaders. 
A deputation, composed of a hundred influential Jews, came 
to him at Daphne, near Antioch, with complaints against the 
usurping sons of Antipater. Antony gave them a hearing, 
and then turning to Hyrcanus, who was present, asked whom 
he thought the most competent to govern the state under 
himself. To the surprise of many, he named the two brothers, 
influenced possibly by the projected marriage between Herod 
and his grand-daughter. On this, Antony, who had received 
gifts from Herod, and who well remembered the services of 
Antipater, raised Herod and Phasael to the rank of tetrarchs, 
and committed the affairs of Juda?a to their administration. 
Not long after, however, when Antony was at Tyre, another 
more numerous deputation came to him with the same com- 
plaints ; but Antony ordered the soldiers to disperse them, 
which was not done without loss of life. 

5. Antigonus was not yet disheartened. The Parthians, 
for a brief period, became masters of Syria, and held possession 
of Sidon and Ptolemais. Antigonus engaged their assistance 
by the promise of a thousand talents and five hundred J ewish 
women, and advanced at the head of a powerful army against 
Jerusalem ; and after many strong efforts, succeeded in re- 
covering the kingdom. Herod escaped by flight ; but 
Hyrcanus and Phasael were thrown into dungeons. Knowing 
that his death was determined, Phasael dashed out his brains 



376 



HEEOD BESIEGES JERUSALEM. 



against the prison walls. Antigonus dared not incur the 
odium of destroying his aged uncle ; but he barbarously cropped 
off his ears, and sent him far away to Seleucia in Babylonia, 
in the safe keeping of the Parthians. 

6. Herod made the best of his way to Eome, where he 
found his friend Antony in the very zenith of his power ; and 
was by him introduced to the favourable notice of Octavius, 
his coadjutor, by an account of the services which Antipater 
had rendered to Julius Caesar in the Egyptian campaign, and 
of the esteem in which he had been held by that conqueror. 
All that Herod came prepared to solicit was, that Aristobulus, 
the brother of his espoused Mariamne, should have the throne 
of Judaea, purposing himself to govern under him, as he had 
governed under Hyrcanus. But Antony would hear of nothing 
less than that he should be king himself, and, with the con- 
currence of Octavius and of the Senate, he was solemnly 
inaugurated king of Judaea, in the Capitol of Kome. He had 
still, however, to gain possession of his kingdom, and this he 
found an arduous undertaking. The Eomans were again 
masters of Syria ; but such assistance as Herod could obtain 
from them did him more harm than good ; and the war 
lingered on with various success for between two and three 
years, when, finding that he had tolerably well secured Galilee 
and Samaria, he led his forces against Jerusalem. He was 
induced to do this, probably, by the promise of efficient aid 
from Antony, who had now returned to the East. While 
engaged in the siege, Herod completed his marriage with 
Mariamne, whom he had espoused four years before, hoping 
by this step to reconcile the people to his government. He 
was joined before Jerusalem by Sosius, the president of Syria, 
whom Antony had sent to his assistance with a powerful army, 
which raised the whole investing force to above 60,000 men. 
The city withstood a vigorous siege of above half a year, and 
was then taken by storm. Exasperated at the obstinate 
resistance they had encountered, the Eoman soldiers pillaged 
the city, and massacred the inhabitants without mercy. 
Jerusalem would probably have been destroyed, had not 
Herod ransomed it with gold. Antigonus surrendered him- 
self to Sosius, and showing less of the hero than had been 
expected from him, was treated with contempt. He was 



ASAMONEAN DYNASTY ENDS, 



377 



sent in chains to Antioch, where he was ultimately, at the 
solicitation of Herod, put to death, with such contumely as 
had never before been shewn by the Romans to a crowned 
head. 

7. Thus ended the Asamonean dynasty, after it had sub- 
sisted 126 years. In its later struggles for existence, the 
most devoted and even obstinate attachment to it was evinced 
by the great mass of the Jewish people ; and it was because 
nothing would induce them to acknowledge one of another 
family as king while Antigonus lived, that Herod determined 
un procuring his death. After that, the Jews sullenly and 
gradually submitted to what they could not avoid, Herod 
being upheld by Roman swords. 



BOOK VIII. 



CHAPTER I. B.C. 37 to B.C. 4. 



THE JEWS. 


SYBJA. 




B. C. 


Roman Governors. 


B. c. 


Birth of John the Baptist announced 6 




34 


Birth of Christ anuouuced .... 5 




. 27 






. 22 






15 


EGYPT. 


Sentius Saturninus and Titus Yoluni- 




B. C. 




13 


Cleopatra. 






Egypt reduced to a Roman Province by 






"Octavius "31 








PERSOXS. 




GENERAL HISTORY. 




B. C. 


B. C. 




31 


Lepidus expelled from the Triumvirate 36 




. 29 


War between Octavius and Antony . 33 




29 


Battle of Actium '. . 31 




. 27 


Octavius invades Egypt, and reduces it 








Tibullus 


21 


Octavius, Emperor, with the title of Au- 


Ovid 


. 20 






15 


Dionysius of Halicarnassus . . 





1. AVe now find upon the throne of Juda?a the man who 
conies down to us as Herod " the Great," and who certainly 
manifested in no common degree the qualities to which great- 
ness has been usually ascribed. Understanding the epithet, 
in its conventional use, as not applied to moral goodness, but 
to certain regal qualities which men have been trained to 
admire, it must be admitted that Herod had as good claim to 
be called "the Great" as many of those to whom that dis- 
tinction has been given. There is no person who, singly, 
fills so large a place in the history of the Jews, or whose cha- 
racter has been brought so completely into view. His resolu- 
tion and indomitable valour are evinced by his whole history ; 
he was liberal even to extravagance in his expenditure ; his 
views were large and penetrating, and his plans comprehen- 
sive ; he was magnificent in his buildings and public works ; 
and, at the first view, he appears to us as one of those 
men who might stand forth as the benefactors of mankind. 



CHARACTER OF HEROD THE GREAT. 



379 



2. But a closer inspection shews that all this fair appear- 
ance was false and hollow. Ambition, glory, and the praise of 
men, were the motives of all his great acts — to attain these he 
aimed at objects far beyond the grasp of the dependent sove- 
reign of so small a state. He was obliged, by his lavish ex- 
penditure, to lay the most heavy and oppressive burdens upon 
his people, and to invent any pretext for cutting down the 
wealthy and the noble, and confiscating their estates. He 
was a slave to the most furious passions : his natural disposi- 
tion was severe and unrelenting, and no regard for human 
suffering formed an obstacle to the least of his designs. His 
inexorable cruelties against those whom he suspected or feared, 
excited against him the hatred of all his subjects, — and then, 
his only care was how to make that hatred a source of gain, 
by new exactions and confiscations. Although a Jew by pro- 
fession, he was in heart a heathen, and it displeased him that 
the severe principles of that religion which made more account 
of righteousness than of glory, precluded his subjects from 
honouring him as the great ones of the heathen were hon- 
oured, — by statues, temples, games, and offerings. In a word, 
the good qualities of Herod, real or seeming, were kept bright 
for holiday show to the Eomans ; but the bad ones were dis- 
played without reserve to his own people, to his own kindred, 
and, above all, to those who stood in his way, or whom he 
accounted his enemies. 

3. The leading acts of his reign class themselves so natu- 
rally under the heads of jealousy and pride, that it may be 
well thus to arrange them. Of his jealousy, the prime objects 
were the members and the adherents of the Asamonean house. 
He began his reign by a most dreadful persecution of the ad- 
herents of the fallen Antigonus ; and here policy went along 
with his hatred, for with his exhausted treasury and lavish 
expenses, he found it exceedingly convenient to put the more 
affluent of them to death, and confiscate their estates. The 
blood which he shed, and the inexorable cruelty which he 
manifested, in the beginning of his reign, made his person 
and government hateful to the Jews ; and hatred rose to ab- 
horrence when the objects of the public love, the last remains 
of a noble race, became the victims of his murderous jealousy. 

-4. The old Hyrcanus, it will be remembered, had been 



380 



ARISTOBULUS DROWNED. 



exiled to Babylonia, where lie was treated with much consi- 
deration, not only by the large body of influential Jews in 
that quarter, but by the Parthian government. Jealous of 
the place which the harmless old man occupied in the affec- 
tion and respect of the Jewish people, Herod decoyed him to 
Jerusalem, and, after treating him for a time with apparent 
attention and deference, caused him, at a convenient season, 
to be slain (B. C. 31). The enormity of this deed is unutter- 
able, when we consider what Hyrcanus had been to Herod 
and to his father Antipater. 

5. The next object of Herod's jealousy was a boy, the 
grandson of Hyrcanus, and brother of Mariamne. This child 
was now the lineal representative of the Asamonean house, 
and, as such, was hateful to Herod ; but his life and welfare 
seemed sufficiently guarded by his relationship to Mariamne. 
The boy grew up into a youth of wonderful beauty ; and the 
hearts of the Jews were fixed upon him, as the last of the 
glorious race of the Maccabees. His of right was the high- 
priesthood, which Herod had bestowed upon an obscure priest 
of the name of Ananel ; but perceiving, at length, that it 
was no longer safe to withhold the pontificate from him, the 
king removed Ananel, and gave his place to Aristobulus, 
then but seventeen years of age. When he first appeared in 
the gorgeous robes of his office, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 
the assembled people could not restrain a burst of admiration 
and delight : and that testimony of affection sealed the doom 
of Aristobulus. Very soon after, he was drowned, by alleged 
" accident," while bathing at Jericho ; but the whole nation 
knew that the act was Herod's, and saw through the show of 
mourning and parade of grief displayed on the occasion. 

6. Of his wife, Mariamne, who has been so often named, 
Herod was doatingiy fond ; and this he shewed in his own 
peculiar manner, by more than once leaving private orders, 
when he had occasion to leave Judaea, that she should be put 
to death if he failed to return. This happened to transpire, 
and gave occasion to jealousy and suspicion on the part of 
Herod, and to anger and indignation on the part of the high- 
spirited and virtuous princess. The result was, as usual, death. 
In the rage of his jealousy and anger, he poured out that life 
which was the dearest of all to him, and -which his groans and 



HEROD STRANGLES HIS TWO SONS. 381 

tears could not afterwards restore. The death of her mother 
Alexandra followed soon after. The two sons of Mariamne by 
Herod himself, also exciting his jealousy and dislike by rest- 
ing upon their Asamonean descent through her, and making 
that then- ground of claim to the favour of the people, were at 
length consigned to the same doom, and were, by their father's 
order, strangled in the prison-house (B. C. 6). In short, such 
was his jealous temper, that he spared neither his own family, 
his friends, nor the noblest, wealthiest, or most powerful of 
his subjects. It is not wonderful that such conduct procured 
him the intense hatred of the Jews, and that various plots 
were laid for his destruction. In such plots a very active part 
was taken by the Pharisees ; but they were all abortive, and 
only served to increase the distance between the tyrant and 
his people, and to render the former so suspicious, that the 
innocent were often cruelly tortured, lest the guilty should 
escape. 

7. The knowledge of how deeply he was disliked by the 
people, also made him more and more careless of public opinion ; 
and when he supposed that all his enemies were put down, and 
his power well established, he evinced a marked neglect of the 
Jewish religion and laws, and as marked a preference of 
Roman customs and practices. There was, perhaps, policy in 
this ; for he owed everything to the Romans, and had no trust 
but in their favour. Not being a Levite, or even, by birth a 
Jew, he did not venture to seize the priesthood. His own 
policy and that of his successors, was, therefore, to degrade 
that sacred office, and to render it entirely dependent on his 
will. From the beginning of his reign to the destruction of 
the Temple, the hereditary principle of succession to the priest- 
hood was utterly neglected ; and the high-priests were set up 
and removed at pleasure. He destroyed the authority of the 
Grand Sanhedrim, before which he had formerly been sum- 
moned ; and he is said to have burned the public genealogies, 
that no evidence might exist against his claim to be considered 
an Israelite. In all parts of his kingdom, except Judaea, 
Herod built temples in the Grecian style of art, set up statues 
for idolatrous worship, and even dedicated a magnificent theatre 
and amphitheatre to the celebration of games in honour of 
Augustus, which, it is known, implied the deification of the 



382 



HEROD REBUILDS THE TEMPLE. 



person in whose honour the games were celebrated. His or- 
dinary habits were framed after the manners and customs of 
the Eomans ; and along with the usages, his influence and ex- 
ample failed not to impart the luxuries and vices of that 
licentious people. 

8. To Herod's pride may be ascribed his biuldings and 
public works. His design to rebuild the Temple in a style and 
scale of superior grandeur, may certainly be attributed to his 
wish for the glory of being thought another Solomon, rather 
than to his piety or zeal. He was likewise sensible of the 
fact, that there was scarcely any step he could take by which 
he could so well please and soothe the people he had done so 
much to exasperate. Accordingly, having obtained their con- 
sent, he spent two years in bringing together all the materials 
for the work, after which the old fabric was pulled down, and 
the new one begun, in the twentieth year of his reign. For 
nine or ten years, no less than 18,000 workmen were employed 
upon it. The sanctuary, or the actual Temple itself, was com- 
pleted in a year and a-half ; and the rest of the pile, with its 
courts, porticoes, offices, and outer buildings, in eight years 
more, so as to be fit for the usual services of religion ; but the 
whole was not completed till long after the death of Herod. 
This Temple is that which Christ and his apostles so often 
visited, and which is minutely described by Josephus. It 
seems in many respects to have been a much more magnificent 
pile than the first Temple, built by Solomon, although it may 
not have equalled that celebrated structure in its wealth of 
gold. It was built with hard white stones of vast size ; and, 
rising in all its grandeur from the summit of an eminence, it 
formed the most conspicuous object in a general view of the 
city, and excited the admiration of all beholders. The ex- 
terior was covered profusely with solid plates and pinnacles 
of gold ; and when the rays of the sun were reflected from it, 
it shone like a meteor, which the eye could not rest upon. 
The noble porticoes which surrounded the Temple courts, also 
claimed no small share of admiring wonder. Incalculable 
wealth was expended on them; and the refined taste was 
gratified, by grace of form and proportion, by vast extent, by 
costliness of materials, and by every variety of beauty and 
embellishment which art or imagination could devise. 



HEROD S PUBLIC WORKS. 



383 



9. Herod also built a magnificent palace for himself, 
which subsequently became the residence of the Eoman pro- 
curators at Jerusalem. This, next to the Temple, was con- 
sidered the finest building in Jerusalem. Many other great 
works were undertaken by him, not only in his own domi- 
nions, but in foreign cities, with the view of spreading the 
fame of his magnificence in the Roman empire. In many 
other cities, the traveller might hear in those days, as he 
went from place to place, that the city walls, the porticoes, 
the gymnasiums, the theatre, the temple, the bath, the bazaar, 
the aqueduct, were built by a munificent foreigner, Herod, 
king of Judaea; or else that he had planted the grove, had 
founded the public games, or had made rich gifts to the city. 
Although this lavish expenditure upon foreigners was a 
grievance to the people over whom he ruled, it must be ad- 
mitted that his own dominion was by no means overlooked. 
Many new cities were built by him, and old ones restored; 
bridges, roads, baths, aqueducts, were formed wherever 
needed, which gave a new aspect to the country under his 
reign. At Caesarea, which was built by him, he framed by 
art the safest and most convenient port on all the coast. 
Among the cities rebuilt by him on an enlarged and beauti- 
ful plan, was Samaria, to which he gave the name of Sebaste, 
in honour of Augustus. All these were great, and in them- 
selves useful works ; yet we may gather from the Jewish 
writings, that the people were but little grateful for them, 
while they groaned under the exactions by which their cost 
was defrayed. 

10. TVe have seen that Mark Antony was the original 
patron of Herod, and that to him chiefly he owed his king- 
dom. In the conflict that eventually arose between Antony 
and Octavius, Herod adhered to the cause of the former; but 
at length, not feeling it his interest to connect his fortunes 
with those of a man whose infatuations were leading to his 
inevitable ruin, he made a timely and by no means ungrace- 
ful transfer of his allegiance to Octavius. To that person 
the attentions and services of Herod were very acceptable; 
and when he became the sole master of the Eoman world, 
under the name of Augustus, he continued to manifest towards 
him the highest degree of favour and personal esteem. By 



384 BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

successive additions, his kingdom was made more extensive 
than that of any king since Solomon, and embraced not only 
the whole country from Dan to Beersheba, but as extensive 
domains beyond the Jordan as had at almost any time be- 
longed to the crown of Israel. Besides this, he was the 
emperor's procurator in Syria, and the governor of that im- 
portant country undertook nothing without his concurrence. 
We may form some notion of the regard which the emperor 
had for Herod by the pains which he took from time to time 
to settle the troubles that were constantly arising in his 
family, and which were as constantly referred to his judgment 
and decision. The most important incidents, as arising 
chiefly from the jealousy of Herod's character, have been 
mentioned. The last of them which was named, being the 
execution of his two high-spirited and accomplished sons by 
Mariamne, took place towards the latter end of his long reign. 
B. C. 6. 

1 1 . The year after was signalised by the birth of John 
the Baptist, — the harbinger of the promised Messiah. 



385 



CHAPTER II. B. C. 5 to A. D. 25. 



PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

Herod the Great 37 

A. D. 

Archelaus, ethnarch of Judsea, kc. . 1 
Herod Antipas, tetrarcb. of Galilee and 

Perea 1 

Herod Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, 

&c 1 

ROMAN PROCURATORS OF JUD.EA. 

A. I). 

Copotiius 6 

Marcus Ambivius 9 

Annius Rufus 13 

Valerius Gratus 14 

Pontius Pilate ... .... 25 

ROME. 

B. C. 

Augustus 27 

A. D. 

Tiberius 14 



PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Phsedrus 4 

Cornelius Celsus 17 

Valerius Maximus 23 

G ermanicus 8 

Arminius 10 

EVENTS. 

A. D. 

Jesus Christ born 1 

Massacre of the Innocents at Beth- 
lehem 1 

Christ in the Temple 9 

Jews expelled from Italy 20 

Annas removed from the high-priest- 
hood, which he had held 15 years . 23 



1. The good understanding between Herod and Augustus, 
was at length interrupted, in consequence of Herod marching 
some troops into Arabia Petrsea, against king Obodas, with 
whom he had quarrelled. This was so misrepresented to the 
emperor, that he was greatly incensed against Herod, and 
wrote to him saying he should be no longer treated as a 
friend but as a subject. Accordingly, a commissioner named 
Cyrenius, was sent into Judasa to register the taxable popu- 
lation, with a view to the imposition of that capitation or 
poll-tax, usually paid by the inhabitants of the subject pro- 
vinces, but from which Herod's dominion had been hitherto 
exempt. The registration was completed; but the tax itself 
was not imposed, as proper explanations restored the good 
understanding between Herod and the emperor. 

2. As, under the decree of registration, the people were 
to be enrolled in their paternal towns, many persons who had 
settled in other places, had now to journey to the seat of the 

s 



386 



BIRTH OF CHRIST. 



families to which they belonged. Those of the house and 
lineage of David repaired to Bethlehem. Among them was 
a carpenter named Joseph, with his wife Mary, from Naza- 
reth in Gralilee. As the caravanserai was too crowded by 
previous comers to afford them any accommodation, they 
lodged in the stable belonging to it. Here Mary gave birth 
to a son, and cradled him in the manger. That son was 
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, so long foretold, whose day so 
many kings and prophets had desired to see. Nor was that 
illustrious birth without such heavenly celebration as became 
its importance. Hosts of rejoicing angels sang of " peace on 
earth, and good will to man;" and by them the shepherds, 
who lay abroad at night in the plain, watching their flocks, 
were directed to the birth-place of the Redeemer. 

3. Not long after, Jerusalem was astonished by the 
arrival of three sages from the distant east, inquiring for the 
new-born king, saying, that they had seen "his star," and 
had come to offer him their gifts and homage. They found 
him in the manger at Bethlehem ; and then repaired to their 
own country without returning to Jerusalem, as Herod had 
desired. The jealousy of that tyrant had been awakened by 
their inquiry for the "King of the Jews;" and as their 
neglect to return prevented him from distinguishing the 
object of their homage, he had the inconceivable barbarity to 
order that all the children in Bethlehem under two years of 
age should be put to death, trusting that the intended victim 
would fall in the general slaughter; but Joseph had pre- 
viously been warned in a dream to take his wife and the 
infant to the land of Egypt, whence they did not return till 
after the death of Herod. 

4. That event was not long delayed. In the sixty-ninth 
year of his age, Herod fell ill of the disease which occasioned 
his death. That disease was in his bowels, and not only put 
him to the most cruel tortures, but rendered him altogether 
loathsome to himself and others. The natural ferocity of his 
temper could not be tamed by such experience. Knowing 
that the nation would little regret his demise, he ordered the 
persons of chief note to be confined in a tower, and all of 
them to be slain when his own death took place, that there 
might be cause for weeping in Jerusalem. This savage 



ARCHELAUS GOVERNOR OF JUDiEA. 



387 



order was not executed. After a reign of thirty-seven years, 
Herod died in the seventieth year of his age. 

5. By his will, which was, of course, left subject to the 
approval of the emperor, Herod divided his dominions among 
his three sons, Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip. 
To Archelaus he bequeathed what was regarded as properly 
the - kingdom, namely, Judaea, Samaria, and Idunwea; to 
Antipas was left the tetrarchy of Galilee and Perea; and 
Philip was appointed tetrarch of the territory formed by the 
districts of Trachonitis, Gaulonitis, Batanea, and Paneas. 
The relative value of the territories may be estimated by the 
revenue derived from them. Archelaus' territory yielded 600 
talents a-year, that of Antipas 200, that of Philip 100. This 
distribution was confirmed by Augustus, excepting that he 
recognised Archelaus as ethnarch only, reserving the title of 
king as the future reward of his good conduct in the govern- 
ment. His subjects, however, regarded him as their king, 
and entertained favourable anticipations of his reign. But 
he soon shewed himself as great a tyrant as his father, with- 
out the redeeming qualities that had been sometimes visible 
in Herod. At the very beginning of his reign, his refusal of 
a popular demand, raised a commotion in the temple, to quell 
which he let loose the soldiers upon the people, whereby not 
fewer than 3000 persons were destroyed. This and other 
acts revived the general unpopularity of the rule of the 
Herodian family; and, therefore, when the several members 
of that family, interested in the will of Herod, proceeded to 
Rome to promote their claims, a deputation of Jews also went 
to petition that they might be no longer harassed by a show 
of independence, but should be allowed to live according to 
their own laws under a Roman governor. Their suit was, 
however, refused, and the will of Herod was confirmed. 

6. On his return, Archelaus conducted himself with great 
harshness towards his refractory subjects. This produced new 
disorders; and the ensuing years were disturbed by insurrec- 
tions against the Romans by pretenders to the crown, and by 
powerful bands of brigands, who kept the kingdom in con- 
tinual alarm, and checked the communications between one 
part of the country and another. At length the mal- admi- 
nistration of Archelaus, and his unfitness to govern, became 



388 JUDJEA REDUCED TO A ROMAN PROVINCE. 

so evident, that the complaints of his subjects were no longer 
treated with neglect at Rome. In the tenth year of his 
reign he was deposed, and banished to Vienne in Gaul. 

7. At the same time Judaea was reduced to the form of a 
Roman province, annexed to Syria, and governed by Roman 
procurators. This change threw into the rough hands of 
strangers those powers which the kings had previously exer- 
cised. Thus, tribute was paid directly to the Romans; the 
power of life and death was taken away ; and justice was ad- 
ministered in the name and by the laws of Rome. The pro- 
curators were appointed directly by the emperors, and the 
place of their residence was Caesarea, which hence became 
the reputed capital of the province. A magnificent palace 
which Herod had built there for himself, became the resi- 
dence of the procurators. At the great festivals, the procu- 
rators usually visited Jerusalem, attended by some cohorts (or 
regiments) of soldiers, with the view of repressing any dis- 
turbance which might arise in so vast a concourse of discon- 
tented people. Six cohorts were constantly kept in Judaea, 
of which five were generally at Caesarea, and one always at 
Jerusalem. A part of the Jerusalem cohort was quartered 
in the tower of Antonia, so as to command the Temple and 
the praetorium or palace of the governor. 

8. The duty of the procurator was to maintain good 
order in his province, to collect the imperial revenues, and to 
administer justice. Some of those who came to Judaea, held 
independent jurisdiction, while others were dependent on the 
president or general governor of Syria, whose seat was at 
Antioch. The tribute paid to the Romans was peculiarly 
galling to the Jews, many of whom, arguing on abstract 
tenets, without reference to its being compulsory, held that it 
was " unlawful" for the chosen people of God to pay tribute 
to the heathen. The persons holding this doctrine, or making 
it a cover for their restlessness, were called "zealots;" and 
under that name they are distinguished in the few sad pages 
that remain of the Jewish history. Such people were not 
likely to admit of any middle course, nor indeed was there 
any such course open to them. They raised numerous insur- 
rections against the Roman government, or united in formi- 
dable bodies of brigands; and considering all those Jews who 



ABHORRENCE OF THE JEWS TO THE ROMANS. 389 

were willing to rest quiet under the Eonians, as unworthy 
and degenerate sons of Israel, they counted them as enemies, 
and treated them as such. The effect of this was increasing- 
disorder, insecurity, and rapine. 

9. Even the more quietly disposed who, from seeing no 
hope of deliverance, were disposed to submit to the Eoman 
yoke, detested the tribute in their hearts : and hence those 
Jews who assisted in the collection, and were called " publi- 
cans," were disliked beyond all men, being regarded as be- 
trayers of their country's liberties, and extortioners in behalf 
of the Komans. This feeling naturally threw the office of 
collector or publican into the hands of men of low character, 
whose conduct generally justified the dislike with which they 
were regarded. The lofty notions entertained by the Jews 
of their national privileges as the peculiar people of Jehovah, 
rather than any enlarged and patriotic views of public liberty, 
fostered those feelings of hatred to the Eoman government. 
Besides, the Komans, being idolaters, were looked upon by 
the Jews with disgust, as polluted and abominable men, with 
whom they could not sit at the same table or mix in any 
social intercourse. This marked and avowed abhorrence of 
the Jews to the persons of the Komans, was by no means 
calculated to produce in that overbearing people a kind feel- 
ing towards their tributaries. 

10. But for their national peculiarities and prejudices the 
Jews would have had no good ground for complaint. They 
were allowed the free exercise of their own religious rites; 
they worshipped in their temple and synagogues without re- 
straint; they followed their own customs, and were still in a 
great degree governed by their own laws. 



390 



CHAPTEE III. A.D. 25 to 36. 



PALESTINE. 



Galilee— Herod Antipas .... 1 

Trachonitis— Herod Philip .... 1 

Judte a— Pontius Pilate 25 

Marcellus 35 

Marullus 36 

ROME. 

Tibeiius 14 



EVENTS. 

John the Baptist begins his mi- 



nistry 28 

Jews baptised by John 29 

John imprisoned by Antipas ... 30 

Jesus begins his ministry .... 30 

John the Baptist beheaded ... 32 

Jesus crucified 33 

Stephen martyred 34 

Conversion of Saul 36 



1. The important changes in Judsea consequent upon 
its becoming a Eoman province, did not extend to the 
tetrarchies of Herod Antipas and Philip, who governed their 
territories without the direct intervention of the Eomans. 
The former of these personages is repeatedly mentioned in 
the gospels by the name of Herod. He sedulously culti- 
vated the favom of the emperor Tiberius, who succeeded 
Augustus in A. D. 14, and gave his name to the city which 
he built on the western border of the lake of Gennesareth, 
from which also the lake itself soon acquired, the name of 
Tiberias. 

2. The Eoman procurators of Juda?a were often 
changed ; and, with rare exceptions, every succeeding one 
was worse, in character and conduct, than his predecessor. 
The first of them of whom there is anything remarkable 
to record is Pontius Pilate, whose name the gospels have 
made familiar to every reader. He came into the province 
in A. D. 25, and continued in it ten years. His conduct 
from the first excited the dissatisfaction of the people. He 
was an impetuous, greedy, sanguinary, and obstinate tyrant, 
who sold justice, plundered the people, and slew the inno- 
cent. Although the abhorrence in which idolatrous images 
were held by the Jews, was perfectly well known to all 
the Eomans, he persisted in bringing into Jerusalem the 
images which were on the military ensigns ; and by this 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. 



391 



and other acts of insult and oppression, he raised frequent 
tumults among even those of the Jewish people who were 

the most inclined to 
submit to the Ro- 
man government. 

3. But the govern- 
ment of Pilate is 
made chiefly memor- 
able by the public 
appearance, minis- 
try, and death of 
Jesus Christ. His 
birth has already 
been mentioned. Of 
his history, while he 
remained in private 
life, that is, until he 
attained the age of 
thirty years, little 
further is known 
than that he re- 
mained with his 
parents at Nazareth 
in Galilee, to which 
town they had re- 
turned as soon as the death of Herod rendered it safe for 
them to leave Egypt. His actual appearance as the ex- 
pected Messiah, was harbingered by John the Baptist, who 
had lived in the solitudes of the wilderness, clad in hairy 
raiment, and subsisting on locusts and wild honey, and came 
thence to the river Jordan, where, by his preaching of re- 
pentance and remission of sins, with his baptise " those 
who came to him, he attracted great attention. Bui the in- 
terest of his countrymen was increased when he announced 
that he came but as a forerunner of One whose sandal- 
thong he was not himself worthy to unloose. This accorded 
with the expectations then prevalent among the Jewish 
people, that the time for the coming of the long-desired 
Messiah, the Deliverer, was very near. This expectation 




148. Roman Standards. 



392 



CHRIST S MINISTRY. 



was founded on a calculation of the time mentioned by Daniel 
the prophet,* which calculation still remains as one of the 
strongest evidences that Jesus of Nazareth was the very Christ 
of whom Moses and the prophets wrote. The Jews were, how- 
ever, utterly mistaken in their conception of the character 
and offices of the expected Messiah. They thought he was 
to appear as a great and glorious king, claiming his place 
upon the throne of David, and going forth conquering and 
to conquer, until Israel not only broke the yoke that fretted 
her neck, but until she became the head of the nations, and 
the proudest of her enemies licked the dust beneath her feet. 
This expectation was one of the circumstances which made 
the nation so impatient of the Eoman yoke. 

4. With such expectations, the Jews as a body, and 
especially the proud and self-confident Pharisees, were little 
prepared to recognise the Messiah in that lowly man, whom 
soon after the Baptist pointed out as " the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sins of the world." There seems to have 
been a thick mist over the Jewish mind, which rendered the 
nation incapable of perceiving or understanding that his 
mission was indescribably more glorious than that which 
their worldly minds assigned to him ; that he came to ransom 
mankind from their lost condition ; to bring into the fold of 
God other sheep, which had been straying long on moimtains 
and in wildernesses of ignorance and ungodliness ; to bring 
into the world a hope full of immortality ; and to furnish man- 
kind with higher and purer motives, feelings, and principles 
of action than had yet been known on the earth. This the 
Jews would not and could not understand, as they liked far 
better to see in the Messiah a great king and warrior, clad 
with the visible glory of his father David. Although, there- 
fore, they confessed that no man ever spake as he spoke, that 
no man ever did such marvellous things as he did ; although 
he raised the dead, healed all manner of diseases, gave sight 
to the blind and hearing to the deaf, and fed seven thousand 
with the bread of ten people, yet they refused to receive him 
as "the Christ of God." Nay, more, the claims which he 

* " Seventy weeks," meaning weeks of years, or seventy multiplied by seven, 
being 490 years. 



CHRIST S RESURRECTION 



393 



advanced were, as coining from him, so opposed to rooted 
opinions, by which the national pride was nattered ; his an- 
nouncement of the termination of the Mosaical system was 
so abhorrent to the same feeling ; his reproofs of the reign- 
ing evils were so unsparing, that he was not only rejected 
but hated by the teachers and leaders of the people. They 
spared no pains to accomplish his death ; and at length, 
three years after the commencement of his ministry, at the 
Passover of the year A. D. 33, they brought him to the 
scourge, the thorny crown, the transfixing nails, and the cross 
of a Koman execution. 

5. In that act of blood the doom of the Jewish nation 
was sealed. The rent veil of the Temple indicated the end 
of the Mosaic dispensation, and the completion of the pur- 
poses for which the descendants of Abraham had hitherto 
been preserved as a nation. The light of Israel went out in 
that darkness which overspread the land when the dying 
Saviour cried " It is finished !" 

But the grave could not retain him. On the third 
day he rose, and after meeting several times with his fol- 
lowers, discoursing with them and partaking of their food, on 
the fortieth day he ascended, visibly, up into the heavens 
from which he came. Soon after, at the feast of Pentecost, 
he sent down upon his chosen followers that enlightenment 
of the Holy Spirit, which was needful to qualify them for 
making known his doctrines to all the world. 

6. The Koman governor, Pilate, being the person in 
whom rested the power of life and death, necessarily took 
part in the death of Christ. To ensure the conviction of 
Jesus, the Jews charged him with a political crime, that 
of sedition. Had the power been with them, they would 
have stoned him. Pilate, however, saw very plainly that 
there was no real ground of charge against him, and was re- 
luctant to condemn him. But, on the other hand, he was at 
that time anxious to gratify the Jewish people, and was 
fearful of the impressions which the jealous and suspicious 
Tiberius might receive from their accounts of the trans- 
action. He therefore yielded to their clamour ; but, in doing 
so, vainly sought to clear his own hands from the stain 



394 



JOHN THE BAPTIST BEHEADED. 



of innocent blood, and to cast it upon their heads. They 
received it gladly, shouting, " His blood be on us, and on 
our children!" — and awfully were their words fulfilled. 
Christ himself, not long before his death, predicted that the 
existing generation should not pass away before their city 
and Temple should be destroyed, with fearful sufferings of the 
people. 

7. In the year that Christ was crucified, the tetrarch 
Philip died ; and as he had no sons, his territories were an- 
nexed to the Koman province of Syria. As to the surviving 
tetrarch, Herod Antipas, he put John the Baptist in prison, 
on account of his public reprobation of a very unseemly act 
of which he had been guilty. He took Herodias, the wife 
of his living brother, and married her himself, putting away 
his former legitimate wife, a daughter of the king of Arabia- 
Petrssa. Herod had no wish or intention to put John 
to death, but was reluctantly induced to do so in com- 
pliance with a foolish vow which the dancing of the 
daughter of Herodias extracted from him. He afterwards 
happened to be at Jerusalem when Christ was brought be- 
fore Pilate, and that person, hearing that the accused be- 
longed to Galilee, sent him to the tetrarch of that district. 
Herod was glad to see him, having heard much of his preach- 
ing and miracles; but, finding that Jesus was not disposed 
to gratify his curiosity, he treated him with insult, and 
sent him back to Pilate. This civility between the governor 
and the tetrarch, at the expense of Jesus, paved the way 
for making up a misunderstanding which had existed be- 
tween them. 

8. Pilate retained his government some years longer, 
and continued his oppressions and exactions, among which 
may be reckoned his attempt to drain the treasury of the 
Temple, under cover of making it chargeable for the expenses 
of carrying an aqueduct into Jerusalem. At length, a gross 
outrage upon the Samaritans, in which a number of innocent 
people were put to the sword, occasioned such complaints 
to Vitellius, the governor of Syria, that he ordered Pilate 
home, to give an account of his conduct to the emperor. 



PILATE PERISHES BY HIS OWN HAND. 395 

Tiberius was dead before lie arrived, and his successor, 
Caligula, banislied him to Vienne in Gaul, where he is said 
to have perished miserably by his own hand. 

9. After having sent Pilate home, Vitellius himself went 
to Jerusalem (although he had been there lately) to allay the 
ferment which had arisen among the Jews. He was accom- 
panied by Herod, and acted with temper and discretion. 
He removed the high-priest, appointed Marcellus procurator 
for the interim, and received the oaths of allegiance to the 
new emperor. 

10. Marcellus was soon superseded as procurator by 
Marullus, who was sent out by Caligula. 



396 



CHAPTER IV. A. D. 36 to 64. 



PALESTINE. 



Herod Antipas in Galilee, &c. ... 1 
King Herod Agrippa in Trachonitis. &c. 38 
Herod Agrippa, king of Judaea ... 41 

ROMAN PROCURATORS. 

A.D. 

Cuspius Fadius 44 

Tiberius Alexander 46 

Ventidius Cumanus 47 

Felix 52 

Porcius Festus 60 

Albinus 63 

ROME. 

A. D. 

Caligula 37 

Claudius 41 

Nero 54 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

A. D. 

Jewisli embassy to Caligula .... 40 

Claudius's expedition into Britain . . 43 

Martyrdom of James the Elder ... 44 

Council of Apostles at Jerusalem . . 49 

Paul imprisoned at Jerusalem ... 59 

Paul's first visit to Rome 61 

Martyrdom of James the Less ... 62 

Paul liberated 63 

PERSONS. 

A. D. 

Columella 32 

Philo Jiulseus 39 

Persius 37 

Seneca 52 

Petronius Arbiter 61 

Lucan 62 

Quintus Curtius 64 



1. We must now remind the reader of the two sons of 
Herod the Great by the Asamonean Mariamne, whom their 
father had put to death. One of them, Aristobulus, left a 
son called Herod Agrippa, who was sent to Rome, and brought 
up there in the imperial family. While Tiberius lived, he 
attached himself to Caligula, and became his intimate friend 
and companion. An unguarded expression of the wish that 
his friend might soon be emperor, was reported to Tiberius, 
who threw him into prison, laden with chains. The first act 
of Caligula, when he came to the throne, was to liberate 
Herod Agrippa, and to bestow on him a chain of gold, of the 
same weight as the one of iron which he had worn for his 
sake. Nor was this all : he bestowed on him the tetrarchy 
of his late uncle Philip, together with that of Abilene, with 
the title of king. This unexpected advancement of his 
nephew was highly unpalatable to Herod Antipas, who, 
greatly coveting the royal title himself, went to Rome to 
endeavour to obtain it ; but in seeking it he lost all, and was 
sent to join Pilate at Vienne in Gaul. His territory was 
given to the fortunate Agrippa; Judaaa and Samaria were 



DEATH OF HEROD. 



397 



added a few years after; so that the kingdom of Herod the 
Great was once more reconstructed in behalf of his grandson. 

2. The government of Agrippa was acceptable to the 
Jews. He was anxious to satisfy them ; and his influence at 
Rome enabled him to be of real use to them. Caligula grew 
intoxicated with power, and wished to be worshipped as a 
god. The Jews were likely to have been in much difficulty 
through their resistance to the introduction of his image into 
their Temple. The emperor was greatly enraged; but at 
length the solicitations of Agrippa gave effect to the remon- 
strances of a deputation from the Jews, and the Temple was 
reluctantly exempted from the threatened pollution. Caligula 
died soon after; and the part taken by Agrippa in promoting 
the succession of Claudius, procured him the gratitude and 
favour of that emperor. It was he who added Judaea to his 
kingdom. 

3. It appears to have been less from an intolerant dispo- 
sition, than from a wish to please the Jews, at all hazards, 
that Herod Agrippa persecuted the Christians. He put the 
apostle James, the brother of John, to death, and Peter 
escaped only through the interposition of an angel. 

4. Latterly the mind of Herod was so inflated by the 
sense of his increasing power and greatness, that he received 
with complacency the salutations of the people, who, on some 
public occasion, hailed him as a god in the theatre of Csesarea. 
A grievous and loathsome disease with which he was imme- 
diately smitten, and of which he soon died, convinced him 
and them that he was a mortal man. 

5. His son Agrippa was only seventeen years of age, and 
was deemed too young to be put in possession of the dominions 
of his father. When, however, three years after, his uncle 
Herod, king of Chalcis, died, the emperor gave him that 
kingdom, to which was annexed the government of the 
Temple at Jerusalem, and the power of appointing and re- 
moving the high-priests. Afterwards a more important king- 
dom was given him for that of Chalcis. It was composed of 
the provinces of Batanea, Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, and Abilene. 
But on the death of Herod Agrippa, Judaea was again re- 
duced to the condition of a Eoman province, in which state it 
afterwards remained. 



398 



FELIX GOVERNOR OF JUDAEA. 



6. Under the successive governments of Cnspius Fadius, 
of Tiberius Alexander, and of Ventidius Cumanus, which 
together occupied not more than eight years, various acts of 
tumult, popular frenzy, delusion, and crime, afford indications 
to the careful observer of the commencement of that troubled 
condition of society which ended in the destruction of Jeru- 
salem and the ruin of the nation. 

7. After these, Claudius gave the government of Judaea 
to his freedman, Felix. He was the brother of Pallas, the 
celebrated freedman and favourite of that emperor. The 
common observation, that the government of a slave is always 
tyrannous, was confirmed in the case of Felix. He acted 
with great severity, and with utter disregard of public opinion. 
He began his government by clearing the country of the 
numerous banditti, and the clandestine assassins called Sicarii,* 
by whom it was infested. The great principle of conduct in 
Felix was the same as that ascribed to Turkish Pashas in our 
day, — he was bent on making a fortune for himself during the 
limited period of his government. To this end there was 
nothing mean, cruel, unjust, or extortionate to which he did 
not resort; and this conduct went far to extend and strengthen 
that impatience of the Roman yoke, which had long existed, 
and which was soon to rise to a kind of madness. Indeed it 
was such already; for constantly were enthusiasts and im- 
postors starting up, declaring themselves divinely commissioned 
to deliver the nation from the Roman bondage. The general 
expectation of such a deliverer, secured followers for the 
wildest of those impostors ; and so numerous were they, that 
scarcely a day passed in which several of them were not put 
to death. The deluded people who listened to them were 
destroyed like vermin by the Roman troops. The procurator 
is the same Felix whose name occurs in the Acts of the 
Apostles (xxiv.) — the same who "trembled" when the apostle 
reasoned before him " of righteousness, temperance, and judg- 
ment to come," — the same who kept Paul in prison, expecting 
to obtain money for his ransom. About that time, however, 
his government became so intolerable to the Jews, that they 



* They obtained this name from using poniards bent like the Roman Sica. It was 
their practice to mingle with the crowds, having these poniards under their garments, and 
then using them as they saw occasion. 



POECIUS PESTUS. 



399 



sent a deputation to complain of his conduct to the emperor 
Xero. He was then recalled; and the influence of his brother 
Pallas alone preserved him from a severer punishment. 

8. Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, whose cha- 
racter in history is much fairer than that of his predecessor. 
He proceeded to act with great vigour against the robbers and 
Sicarii, who again swarmed in the land, and acted with in- 
credible boldness, spreading terror through the very heart of 
Jerusalem. He next applied himself to allay the discords 
which raged between the superior and inferior priests, and 
which, in a country where the ecclesiastical institutions were 
still so prominent as in Judasa, could not be carried on with- 
out involving all the interests of the state. No one can exa- 
mine the history of this period without perceiving that the 
leaders of the people, whether priests or laymen, were, as 
Josephus, who knew them well, describes, as vile miscreants 
as ever lived. The immediate cause of quarrel among the 
priests was connected with the frequent changes of the per- 
sons holding the office of the high-priest, and the extravagant 
claims of the persons who had once enjoyed that dignity. 
These, in the course of time, formed a considerable body, and 
as they all claimed the pontifical portion out of the tithes, 
there was not enough left for the subsistence of the inferior 
priesthood. The vigour with which the claim was enforced, 
and the vehemence with which it was resisted, led to the most 
scandalous outrages. They engaged partisans and employed 
assassins against each other ; and not only was the country 
kept in a continual ferment, but the very sanctuary was often 
desecrated by their broils, and stained with their blood. By 
his resolute conduct and wholesome severities, Festus in some 
degree subdued this disgraceful strife. He received much 
trouble from the enthusiasts and false prophets who from time 
to time appeared, exciting the multitude by their promises of 
deliverance. In the midst of these labours Festus died, after 
he had held the government only two years. 

9. Albums, his successor, thought only of enriching him - 
self. His severities were reserved for poor rogues who could 
produce no money ; but the most atrocious criminals who 
could bribe sufficiently high, were sure of impunity. As 
crime yielded him a rich harvest of bribes and ransoms, he 



400 



GESSIUS FLORUS. 



was but little anxious to put it down, and his course of action 
gave it great encouragement ; so that he was declared to be 
the real head of all the robbers in the country. 

10. But bad as Albinus was, he was greatly surpassed in 
oppression and cruelty by Gessius Floras, who w T as sent out 
to supersede him. This man seems, indeed, to have been the 
very worst, as he was the last, of the Koman governors. 
Other governors had been tyrannical, cruel, avaricious; but 
the tyranny of Floras knew no bounds, his cruelty was a 
habit, and his avarice was utterly insatiable. He gave pro- 
tection to all robbers who would divide the spoil with him, 
and thus practically gave a license to all kinds of violence 
and spoliation. His mal- administration was so outrageous as 
must have insured his disgrace, had it been made a subject of 
complaint at Some; and the knowledge of this made him do 
his utmost to urge on the tendencies of the people to intestine 
commotion and open revolt, hoping that, in the storm, the 
voice of complaint against him would not be heard, and that 
a wider field for spoliation would be opened up. The mea- 
sures of Floras can, however, only be said to have hastened 
by a few years that result which the madness of the people 
had made inevitable. 



401 



CHAPTEK V. A. D. 64 to 70. 



A. I). 



A. D. 



Gessius Florus, Procurator .... 6-1 

War with, the Komans 65 

Vespasian invades Judsea .... 68 

Titus takes and destroys Jerusalem 70 



Vitellius . 
Vespasian 



Nero 
Galfca 
Otho 



54 
6b 
69 
Gl< 
69 



1. The condition of the country became so deplorable, 
that a great niunber of the well-disposed inhabitants sought 
in foreign countries that peace which was denied them in 
their own. The land was distracted by tumult, and over- 
run by robbers, who, professing to be actuated by zeal for 
liberty and religion, plundered, without mercy, the defence- 
less towns and villages which refused to give in their adhesion 
to what was called the patriot cause. Meanwhile justice was 
sold by the Roman governor, and even the sacred office of 
the high-priesthood was offered to the highest bidder. Hence 
those who got that dignity were often profligate wretches, 
who, having obtained the office by bribes, used it for then- 
own purposes, and maintained themselves in it by the darkest 
iniquities. Being of different sects and parties, of which 
there was now a great number, they, and the leading men 
of the nation, acted with all the animosity of sectarianism 
against each other. With such examples in their superiors, 
the ordinary priests and the scribes became, in the highest 
degree, dissolute and unprincipled ; while the mass of the 
people abandoned themselves to all evil ; and seditions, ex- 
tortions, and robberies, were matters of every clay occurrence. 
The bands of society were loosened ; and it became clear 
that the nation was fast ripening for destruction. 

2. Some transactions at Csesarea gave occasion for the 
actual outbreak. * That place, the seat of the Roman gover- 
nor, was built by Herod, and had a mixed population of 
Syrians and Jews. It was disputed between these two 
classes, to which of them the city really belonged. The dis- 



402 



VESPASIAN INVADES JUDJEA. 



pute bad been referred to the emperor, and about this time the 
decree was announced in favour of the Syrians, whose bound- 
less exultation greatly exasperated all the Jews, who had 
felt a prodigious interest in the question. This, with insults 
on their religion, of which the governor refused to take cog- 
nizance, fanned into a flame the smouldering embers of re- 
volt. Acting upon the impulse thus given, a party of hot- 
brained young men surprised a Eoman garrison at Massada, 
near the Dead Sea, and put all the soldiers to the sword. 
The act was recognised at Jerusalem, where the leaders of 
the nation openly threw off their allegiance, by the refusal of 
the priests any longer to offer up the usual sacrifices for the 
prosperity of the Eoman empire. There also the popular 
party rose upon and slew the Koman garrison ; and the 
palace and the public offices were destroyed by fire. In- 
describable barbarities were also committed by the " patriot" 
party upon the quietly-disposed citizens. This example pro- 
duced a general insurrection, in which the Jews on the one 
side, and the Eomans and Syrians on the other, attacked 
each other with the greatest fury ; and in every city there 
was war, massacre, and spoliation. 

3. On the first news of this revolt, the president of Syria, 
Cestius Gallus, marched a powerful army into Judaea, and 
advanced against Jerusalem. Strange to say, he was de- 
feated by the insurgents with great slaughter; and the 
military engines which fell into the hands of the victors, 
were of great use to them in the subsequent defence of the 
city. The honour of Eome was now engaged to avenge this 
disgrace, and no thinking man for a moment doubted the 
result. Nero sent the able and experienced Vespasian into 
Syria (who was accompanied by his son Titus), with the 
quality of president, to take the conduct of the war. 

4. Vespasian commenced operations in the spring of 
A. D. 67, with an army of 60,000 men. Instead of going 
at once to Jerusalem, he employed himself in reducing 
Galilee, and in recovering the fortresses which had been 
taken by the insurgents. In this he met with considerable 
resistance, and had many occasions of witnessing the despe- 
rate valour of the insurgents. At Jotapata he was opposed 
by Josephus, the historian of the war, to whom the pro- 



DREADFUL MASSACRES OF THE JEWS. 403 

visional Jewish government had confided the defence of 
Galilee. The fortress fell, and Josephus was taken alive. 
He was at first treated rather roughly, but afterwards with 
consideration and respect. At the commencement of the 
campaign, the Romans behaved with great severity wherever 
they came. No mercy was shown to age or sex ; but cities, 
towns, and villages were cruelly ravaged and destroyed. Nor 
were these desolations confined to Judaea ; for in many 
foreign cities in which Jews were settled, they were slaugh- 
tered in multitudes by the Roman soldiers and the other 
inhabitants. Some idea of these dreadful massacres may be 
formed from the facts, that above 20,000 Jews were slain in 
one day at Csesarea, 13,000 in one night at Scythopolis, 
50,000 at Alexandria, 8000 at Joppa, and above 10,000 at 
Damascus. Nor need we wonder at such extent of destruc- 
tion among a people who were so infatuated as to rush into a 
warfare, in which, according to Josephus, the odds were so 
fearfully against them. 

5. Though the war was steadily prosecuted, Vespasian 
evinced no haste to march against Jerusalem ; and when urged 
by his impatient officers, he told them that it was better to 
let the Jews destroy one another. In fact, he knew well 
how destructively the factions were raging against each other 
in Jerusalem. There were three of these factions, after- 
wards reduced to two, holding possession of different parts of 
the city. They wasted then strength in cruel conflicts with 
each other ; in which they even destroyed the storehouses of 
corn and provisions which formed the only resource against 
famine in the threatened siege. In one thing, however, they 
all agreed, — in harassing, plundering, and destroying the 
citizens and nobles who did not enter into their views. Thus 
they obtained little real benefit from the respite which arose 
from the attention of the Roman army being diverted for a 
while from them by the revolution which at this time hap- 
pened in imperial Rome, in consequence of the death of 
Nero. G-alba, Otho, Vitellius, were invested with the purple 
in quick succession ; and at length, with general approbation, 
Vespasian himself was declared emperor by the army in 
Judaea. He then departed for Rome, leaving the conduct of 
the war to his son Titus. 



404 



TITUS BESIEGES JERUSALEM. 



6. At the feast of the Passover, in the ensuing year, 
when the city of Jerusalem was, as usual at that time, 
crowded with people from all quarters, the Roman army ap- 
peared before the walls. It was probably his anxiety to 
save the city and the Temple, that induced Titus to com- 
mence the siege at this season ; as it might have been 
expected, that where such multitudes were shut up in an 
ill-provisioned city, famine alone would soon make a sur- 
render inevitable. The besieged were very earnestly in- 
vited to open their gates to the Romans, and were with 
all sincerity assured of their liberty and safety. Josephus 
was also commissioned to harangue them, and to point out to 
them the folly of supposing that they could hold out against, 
or successfully resist, the might of Rome. But all warning 
and counsel were treated with insult and scorn ; and the fac- 
tions expressed the resolution of defending the place to the 
very last, in the confidence that Grod would not permit his 
Temple and city to fall before the heathen. Such repeated 
refusals of mercy and compassion, and the very desperate 
defence made by the besieged, compelled Titus, much against 
his own will, to become the unconscious instrument of ac- 
complishing that doom of the city and the Temple, which 
Christ had nearly forty years before denounced. The folly 
of resistance was so clear to Titus, that he became ex- 
asperated at the unpleasant task which their obstinacy 
imposed upon him. Resolved that none of them should 
escape, but such as surrendered to him, he raised around 
the city a strong wall of circumvallation, strengthened with 
towers. This great work was accomplished in the short 
space of three days. 

7. The city was very strong, being enclosed by three 
walls, one within another ; and then there was the Temple, 
which itself was an exceedingly strong fortress. All these 
defences were successively carried by the Romans, although 
every step was desperately contested by the besieged, who 
for fifteen weeks prevented their enemies from reaching the 
Temple. During that time, the most horrible famine was 
experienced within the city. At length, no table was spread, 
or regular meal eaten in Jerusalem ; people bartered all 
their wealth for a measure of corn, and often ate it unground 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. 405 

and unbaked, or snatched it half-baked from the coals ; 
things were eaten which men abhor, and which the Jews, 
of all men, deemed most abominable. Many perished of 
mere want, especially the old and the very young, for to the 
latter the mother's breast no longer afforded nourishment ; 
and there were instances of dead infants being eaten by their 
own parents ; thus being fulfilled that ancient prophecy in 
which Moses had described the punishments of their un- 
belief.* Nor was famine the only scourge : the factions still 
raged within the city ; agreeing only in resisting the enemy 
without, and then turning with unabated fury against each 
other. They agreed also in continuing their shameful mal- 
treatment of such of the inhabitants as they suspected to be 
in favour of surrendering the city, or inclined to desert to the 
Komans. To incur suspicion of this was instant death ; and 
many persons were charged with the offence, and slain, for 
the sake of their wealth. 

8. The lower city was taken by the Eomans early in the 
month of May ; but the Temple did not fall until the be- 
ginning of August. Titus was most anxious to save this 
glorious fabric, as one of the noblest ornaments of the Koman 
empire. But the Jewish historian observes, that the " holy 
and beautiful house" was doomed to destruction; and he 
attributes to "a divine impulse" the act of the soldier who 
seized a burning brand, and cast it in at the golden window, 
whereby the whole fabric was soon in flames. Titus hastened 
to the spot, and finding all attempt to save the building hope- 
less, he, with some of his officers, entered the sanctuary, and 
directed the removal of the sacred utensils of gold, some of 
which afterwards graced his triumphal procession, and were 
sculptured upon the arch which commemorated his victory. 

9. The upper city, into which the besieged had retreated, 
soon after fell ; and this completed the conquest of Jerusalem. 
In all these operations the carnage was horrible, for with 

* " The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the 
sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil 
toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and 
toward her children which she shall bear : for she shall eat them for want of all things, 
secretly, in the siege and straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy 
gates."— Deut. xxviii. 56, 57. 



406 DISPOSAL OF THE JEWISH PRISONERS. 

the Eomans the time for mercy was past ; and in their ex- 
asperation at the useless obstinacy of the defence, they burnt 
and destroyed without remorse, and massacred the people 
without distinction of age or sex. Streams of blood ran 
through all the streets, and the alleys were filled with bodies 
weltering in gore. The number that perished during the 
four months of the siege, is computed at 1,100,000, a number 
which would seem incredible, if we did not recollect that a 
nation was, as it were, shut up in that city, having assembled 
to celebrate the Passover ; so that, as Josephus observes, this 
exceeded all the destructions that had hitherto been brought 
upon the world. Besides, more than an equal number perished 
elsewhere in the six years of war ; and 97,000 were made 
prisoners. Of these great numbers were sold to the Greek 
slave-merchants ; and when, from their great numbers, the 
slave-markets became glutted with them, and " no man 
would buy them," the large residue were either sent to toil in 
the Egyptian mines, or to various cities far and near, as pre- 
sents, to be consumed by the sword and by wild beasts in the 
amphitheatres. 

10. Thus did Israel cease to be a nation, and become 
outcast and desolate ; thus were their famous city and its 
glorious Temple utterly cast down ; and thus was inflicted the 
doom which was impiously invoked, when the inhabitants 
of Jerusalem cried out, " His blood be on us and on our 
children." 



407 



CHAPTER VI. A. D. 70 to 1076. 

1. Aftek the Roman armies were withdrawn from Jeru- 
salem, many of the Jews returned to dwell among its ruins, 
though the Roman emperor, indignant at the late rebellion, 
had placed a garrison of 800 troops on Mount Zion, in order 
to prevent any attempt to rebuild the city. A portion of the 
country was yet, indeed, unscathed by the flames of war ; the 
towns on the coast, submitting to the Romans, escaped the 
horrors of a siege and the penalties of rebellion, while the 
provinces beyond Jordan enjoyed tranquillity under the rule 
of the conquerors. But the Jews were discontented and re- 
bellious under the yoke of Rome ; they still fondly believed 
that an earthly Messiah was shortly to arise, to free them from 
bondage, and to give them the dominion of the whole earth. 
They accordingly listened to the tales of every impostor, and 
were easily seduced into rebellion by vain hopes of national 
glory, that were never realised. Hence their continual insur- 
rections, which exposed them still farther to the vengeance of 
the conquerors, and accelerated the crisis of their fate, when 
they were to be driven altogether from their own land, and 
dispersed over the face of the earth. In the course of these 
commotions great cruelties were committed; but in the end, 
the Jews were everywhere borne down by the discipline of 
the Roman legions, and paid the penalty of their rebellion 
with their lives. By acts of mutual cruelty, the animosity of 
both parties was inflamed; the sword of persecution was let 
loose against the Jewish religion by their conquerors; the 
rite of circumcision, the reading of the law, and the observance 
of the Jewish Sabbath, and all the other memorials of the 
national faith, were forbidden. In the city of Jerusalem, 
which was to a certain extent repaired, and received the 
name of iElia Capitolina, a colony of Greeks and Latins was 
e-tablished, in order to preclude the return of the Jews, and 
all further hopes of the restoration of their kingdom. But 



408 



SIMON BARCOCHAB's REBELLION. 



the policy of the Eomans was of no avail against the deep- 
rooted prejudices of this infatuated people ; and no sooner had 
a new impostor arisen, of the name of Simon Barcochab (son of 
a star), than the deluded Israelites hailed him as the light 
that was to dawn in the latter days, and usher in the day of 
their long-expected rest. They accordingly crowded to his 
standard; and in a short time he had mustered a powerful 
army of 200,000 devoted followers. Owing to the absence of 
the Roman legions, engaged at that time in distant service, 
important advantages were gained, and Jerusalem was again 
occupied by the insurgent Jews, besides about fifty castles, 
and numbers of open towns. But this career of success was 
speedily terminated by the arrival of Severus, afterwards 
emperor, with a large and well-appointed body of legionary 
troops; the Jews were overwhelmed by numbers, discipline, 
and military skill; their cities were taken and destroyed; and 
Bither, where the leader of the rebellion, Barcochab, had made 
his last stand, was stormed with great slaughter, and himself 
slain. Of the Jews, it is estimated that 580,000 died on the 
field, and the remnant that escaped mostly perished by famine 
and disease, or amid the flames of their ruined cities. Under 
these ruthless devastations the country was at last converted 
into a desert; the inhabitants were either slain or driven into 
exile ; and the divine denunciations were now fully accom- 
plished against this misguided people, that they should be 
scattered among all the nations of the earth. 

2. The victors having thus satiated their vengeance, 
began in due time to relax their stern and intolerant policy. 
Under the mild rule of Antoninus Pius, the Jews were re- 
stored to their ancient privileges, to the freedom of worship, 
and to all their other national rites. They were now mingled 
with the nations, and were found dwelling in all parts of the 
Roman empire ; and their general condition under the Roman 
emperors was not unfavourable. The numerous remains of 
that people, though they were excluded from the precincts of 
Jerusalem, were permitted to form and to maintain conside- 
rable establishments both in Italy and in the provinces, to 
acquire the freedom of Rome, to enjoy municipal honours, and 
to obtain at the same time an exemption from burdensome 
and expensive offices. The moderation or inditTerence of the 



THE EMPEKOE COXSTAXTIXE. 



409 



Eomans gave a legal sanction to the form of ecclesiastical 
police which was instituted by the vanquished sect. The 
patriarch, who had fixed his residence at Tiberias, was em- 
powered to appoint his subordinate ministers to exercise a 
domestic jurisdiction, and to receive from his dispersed 
brethren an annual contribution. Xew synagogues were 
frequently erected in the principal cities of the empire ; and 
the sabbaths, the fasts, and the festivals, which were either 
commanded by the Mosaic law, or enjoined by the traditions 
of the rabbins, were celebrated in the most solemn and 
public manner. Such gentle treatment insensibly mollified 
the stern temper of the Jews, and, awakened from their 
dream of misinterpreted prophecy and conquest, they assumed 
the behaviour of peaceable and industrious subjects. 

3. No great change appears to have taken place in the 
condition of Palestine, until Constantine ascended the im- 
perial throne. He was, as is well known, the first Christian 
emperor ; and under his powerful patronage, and that of his 
mother the Empress Helena, splendid structures were every- 
where erected in the Holy Land, in honour of the Christian 
faith. The land was gradually overspread with memorials of 
Christianity; and chapels, altars, and houses of prayer marked 
every spot which was memorable for any of the sayings or 
doings of the Saviour. The Jews beheld with indignation 
the rise of these Christian monuments within the precincts of 
the holy city. They were as much opposed to the Christian 
worship as to th& heathen idolatry, but their influence was 
now at an end. Scattered in distant parts, they could no 
longer act with consistency or vigour ; yet, so attached were 
they to their peculiar rites, that, however faint the chance of 
success, they were ready in crowds to rally round the stan- 
dard of their ancient faith, wherever it was displayed, and to 
follow any daring leader into the field. But the time was 
past. They were rejected by the divine decree, and were no 
longer to be assembled as a nation in their own land. 
Jerusalem was now filled with the emblems of a new faith, 
and crowds of pilgrims were attracted from the most distant 
countries, by the eager desire of contemplating the place of 
the Eedeemer's passion, and of all the previous incidents of 
his holy life. These visits were encouraged from various 



410 julian's attempt to rebuild a temple. 

motives. They evinced, no doubt, the zeal of the new con- 
verts ; and being at once an apparent proof of piety and a 
real source of profit, they were encouraged by the clergy at 
Jerusalem. 

4. The reign of Julian was a new era in the history of 
Palestine, and the Jews anticipated, from his declared enmity 
to Christianity, his favour for their own faith. The policy 
of this heathen emperor countenanced them in this belief, 
when he endeavoured, by rebuilding the Temple of Jeru- 
salem in its former splendour, to discredit the truth of 
those prophesies which declared the extinction of the ritual 
service. He chose the commanding eminence of Mount 
Moriah for the site of a new structure, which was to 
eclipse the splendour of the Christian church on the adja- 
cent hill of Calvary ; and he resolved to establish a 
Jewish order of priests, who might revive the observance 
of the Mosaic rites, together with as numerous a colony 
of Jews as could be collected, in the holy city. Such 
was still the ardour of the national faith, that the Jews 
crowded from all parts, and exasperated, by their insolent 
triumph, the hostility of the Christian inhabitants. All 
now joined with unwearied zeal in the sacred work of re- 
building the Temple. Liberal contributions poured in from 
all quarters ; men and women joined in the pious labour ; 
and the authority of the monarch was seconded by the 
enthusiasm of the people. But this last effort of expiring 
zeal was unsuccessful ; no Temple ever arose on the ruins of 
the heathen edifices ; and a Mohammedan mosque still stands 
on the ground of the Jewish Temple. The work, from 
whatever cause, was abandoned ; and as it was only under- 
taken during the last six months of Julian's reign, the fact 
seems sufficiently explained by the absence and death of the 
emperor, and by the new maxims that were adopted during 
the Christian reign that succeeded, without the aid of the 
alleged miracle to which it has been usually ascribed. 

5. After the death of Julian, it was the policy of the 
Christian emperors to depress the Jews in Palestine, though 
they were not ill-treated throughout the provinces, and were 
even granted considerable privileges and immunities. But 
it is astonishing how carefully fathers instilled into the minds 



THE PERSIAN INVASION. 



411 



of their children, along with their ancient faith, the fondly- 
cherished delusion, that some new and happier era of free- 
dom and independence was yet to dawn on Israel ; and how 
eagerly the children, imbibing this idea, became the prey of 
every .impostor, and, under the blind impulse of enthusiasm, 
rashly entered into new conflicts with their enemies in the 
field, where they perished, the willing victims of a hopeless 
cause. About the beginning of the seventh century, the 
peace of Juda?a was seriously disturbed by the Persian in- 
vasion of Khosroes. The Greeks and the Persians were for 
a long period rivals for the dominion of the east ; and Khos- 
roes, the grandson of Xushirvan, now invading the Roman 
empire, stormed and sacked the city of Antioch. From Syria 
the flood of invasion rolled southward on Palestine, and the 
Persian army was joined by the Jews to the number of 
24,000, still burning with the love of independence. The 
Christians and Jews were inflamed against each other by a 
long course of deep injuries given and received. Those of 
the former nation within the walls of Jerusalem were mas- 
sacred without mercy by their Christian enemies, while the 
Jews on the outside were burning with the desire of revenge. 
The advance of the Persians secured the triumph. The city 
was stormed by the combined armies, and the Jews were 
satiated with a full measure of revenge. The Christians 
neither sought nor found mercy ; it was estimated that 
90,000 of them perished in the storming of the city. Some 
were sold for slaves, and others were bought for the purpose 
of being slaughtered. The city was sacked, and the magni- 
ficent monuments of the Christian faith were mostly con- 
sumed by fire. But this, like all the other triumphs of the 
Jews, was short-lived. The eastern emperor, Heraclius, was 
roused from inglorious sloth by the triumphs of the Persian 
arms, and by the approach of the victorious force to the 
walls of his own capital. He quickly assembled his veteran 
armies, by whose aid he defeated the troops of Khosroes ; 
and in the course of a few successful campaigns recovered 
all the provinces that had been overrun. He visited Jeru- 
salem after his victories in the lowly guise of a pilgrim, and 
prepared new triumphs for the Christians in the restoration 
of the magnificent churches which had been destroyed, and 



412 



THE MOHAMMEDAN POWER. 



in the persecution of the Jews, and their banishment, as be- 
fore, from the holy city, which they were now forbidden to 
approach within a nearer distance than three miles. 

6. Palestine continued to own the sway of the Greek 
emperor till the rise of the Arabian power in the East. The 
followers of Mohammed, extending their doctrines and their 
dominion by fire and sword, rapidly subdued Arabia, Syria, 
and Egypt, when, about the year 637, the victorious Omar 
turned his arms against Jerusalem. After a siege of four 
months, during which the Arabs suffered extremely from the 
inclemency of the winter, a capitulation was proposed and 
agreed to, when the conqueror entered the city seated on a 
red camel, which carried a bag of corn and dates, and with- 
out guards, or any other precaution. Omar was assassinated 
at Medinah, in the year 644, after which, the East was for 
two hundred years distracted by the bloody wars that ensued 
among the Ommiades, the Abbassides, and the Fatimite 
caliphs ; and Palestine having become an object of contest be- 
tween them, was for a like period a scene of devastation and 
trouble. In the year 868, the capital was conquered by 
Achmet, a Turk ; but was again recovered by the caliphs of 
Baghdad in the year 906. It was reduced by Mohammed 
Ikschid, of the Turkish race. Towards the end of the tenth 
century, the holy city was taken possession of by Ortok ; and 
in 1076, by Meleschah, a Turk. It was retaken by the 
Ortokides, and finally by the Fatimites, who held possession 
of it when the Crusaders made their first appearance in the 
Holy Land. 



413 



. CHAPTER VII. A. D. 1076 to 1203. 

I. Jerusalem, though it was in possession of Moslem chiefs, 
was still revered as a holy city by both Christian and Jew, 
and was visited by pilgrims from every quarter ; among others 
by Peter the hermit, a native of Amiens. The pathetic tale 
which he brought to Europe, of the injuries and insults which 
the Christian pilgrims suffered from the infidels, who pos- 
sessed and profaned the holy city, excited the deepest 
sympathy among the people and princes of Christendom. 
Councils were summoned, and were attended by bishops, a 
numerous train of ecclesiastics, and by thousands of the laity. 
The mixed multitude were harangued by the zealous en- 
thusiasts of this sacred cause ; their pity and indignation were 
alternately roused by the sufferings of their brethren in the 
Holy Land ; the flame of enthusiasm was propagated by 
sympathy and example ; and the eager champions of the cross, 
the flower of the European chivalry, assembled in martial 
array, to march against the enemies of their common faith. 
To defray the necessary expenses of the expedition, princes 
alienated their provinces, nobles their lands and castles, 
peasants their cattle and instruments of husbandry ; and vast 
armies were transported to Palestine, in order to accomplish 
the deliverance of the holy sepulchre. These rude and un- 
disciplined bands died in great numbers on reaching the shores 
of Asia, from disease, famine, and fatigue ; and of the first 
Crusaders, it is estimated that 300,000 had perished before a 
single city was rescued from the infidels. Of the leaders in 
the Christian host, the first rank is due to Godfrey, Duke of 
Brabant and Bouillon, who was accompanied by his two 
brothers, Eustace the elder, who had succeeded to the county 
of Boulogne, and Baldwin the younger. The other chiefs 
were, Robert of France, the brother of King Philip ; Robert, 
Duke of Normandy, the son of William the Conqueror ; 
Bohemond, the son of Robert G-uiscard ; Tancred his cousin, 
and Raymond of Thoulouse. The vast armies that were 



414 



THE FIRST CRUSADE. 



collected under the guidance of these leaders arrived by 
various routes at Constantinople, the Greek capital ; after 
having lost, some say, half their number, in the intermediate 
march through untried regions, by famine, disease, and the 
assaults of the inhabitants into whose countries they had 
made so unexpected an irruption. After some time spent in 
the capital of the East, they crossed to the opposite shore of 
Asia. Having taken the towns of Nice and Antioch in the 
year 1098, they, about a year after, laid siege to Jerusalem, 
and carried it by assault, with a prodigious slaughter of the 
garrison and inhabitants, which was continued for three days, 
without respect either to age or sex. 

2. Eight clays after the capture of Jerusalem, the Latin 
chiefs proceeded to the election of a king, who should preside 
over their conquests in Palestine, and Godfrey of Bouillon 
was unanimously raised to this high office. But if it was an 
honourable office, it was also one of danger ; he was not 
chosen to sway a peaceful sceptre ; and he was summoned to 
the field in the first fortnight of his reign, to defend his 
capital against the sultan of Egypt, who approached with a 
powerful army. The signal overthrow of the latter in the 
battle of Ascalon confirmed the stability of the Latin throne, 
and enabled Godfrey to extend on every side his infant 
kingdom, which consisted only of Jerusalem and Jaffa, with 
about twenty villages and towns of the adjacent districts. 
The fortified castles, in which the Mohammedans had taken 
refuge, and from which they made incursions into the open 
country, were reduced ; the maritime cities of Laodicea, 
Tripoli, Tyre, and Ascalon, were besieged and taken ; and 
the Christian kingdom thus included a range of sea-coast from 
Scancleroon to the borders of Egypt. Although the province 
of Antioch claimed independence, the courts of Edessa and 
Tripoli owned themselves the vassals of the king of Jerusalem; 
and the four cities of Hems, Hamah, Damascus, and Aleppo, 
were the only relics of the Mohammedan conquests in Syria- 
The feudal institutions of Europe were introduced into this 
kingdom in all their purity ; and a code of laws, called the 
assize of Jerusalem, was drawn up and deposited in the sepul- 
chre of the Saviour, as an unerring guide in all doubtful ques- 
tions that might be brought before the tribunals of the holy city. 



THE SECOND CRUSADE. 



415 



3. Godfrey was succeeded by his brother Baldwin L, who 
ruled with vigour and success. In 1118 his nephew, Bald- 
win II., ascended the throne, and still maintained the interests 
of the . kingdom. Melisandra his daughter, married Fulk, 
Count of Anjou, who, in right of his wife, acquired the king- 
dom of Jerusalem. He lost his life by a fall from his horse, 
after having reigned twelve years. His son, Baldwin III., 
ruled in Jerusalem twenty years ; and his reign was remark- 
able as the era of the second Crusade, and of the rise of the 
various orders of knighthood, — the hospitallers, templars, and 
cavaliers. 

4. The military force of the first Crusaders, wasted by 
fatigue, and by losses in the field, was no longer able to oppose 
the hosts of Turks and Saracens by which it was surrounded. 
The first victories of the Europeans, and their rapid success, 
extended far and wide the terror of their arms. But this 
alarm having subsided, the Mohammedan chiefs collected their 
armies, and commenced a vigorous attack on the European 
posts, scattered over a wide extent of country, and gained 
some important advantages. The accounts of these disasters 
that were circulated in Europe excited the liveliest sympathy 
of all Christians for their suffering brethren in the Holy Land, 
for the defence of which the European princes now entered 
into a new coalition. A second Crusade was the consequence. 
It was undertaken by Conrad III., emperor of Germany, and 
Louis VII. king of France, and was even more unfortunate 
than the first expedition. In the course of a tedious march 
through an unhealthy and hostile country, more than half the 
army of Conrad was wasted by famine and the sword, and not 
above a tenth part ever reached the Syrian shore. The sub- 
sequent battles with the Saracens reduced them to a miser- 
able remnant ; and on his return with his shattered forces 
from this unfortunate campaign, the emperor was met by Louis 
and the French troops, who arrived in better condition at the 
scene of action. The French army, rashly advancing into the 
heart of the country, was assaulted and overwhelmed by an 
innumerable host of Turks ; and the king with great difficulty 
made his escape, and finally took shipping with his knights 
and nobles, leaving his plebeian infantry to the sword of the 
victorious enemy. The two princes proceeding to Jerusalem, 



416 



THE SULTAN "SALADIN. 



united the poor remains of their once mighty armies to the 
Latin troops in Syria, and laid a fruitless siege to Damascus, 
which was the termination of the second Crusade. 

5. The defeat and dispersion of these armies tended greatly 
to weaken the Christian cause in the Holy Land, and to shake 
the foundations of the Latin throne at Jerusalem. Baldwin, 
the son of Melisandra and the Count of Anjou, together with 
his brother Amaury or Almeric, long maintained the war with 
considerable success against the infidels. Baldwin, dying, was 
succeeded by his brother, who, after a reign of eleven years, 
transmitted the throne to his son Baldwin IV., disabled both 
in mind and body by the disease of leprosy. Sybilla, the 
mother of Baldwin, was the next heiress, who chose for her 
second husband, and consequently for king of Jerusalem, Guy 
of Lusignan, base in character, but handsome in his person. 
This choice was universally blamed, and excited the hatred 
of Count Baymond, who had been excluded from the succes- 
sion and regency, and who, entertaining an implacable hatred 
against the king, was seduced into a traitorous correspondence 
with the Sultan. Many of the barons were also so dissatisfied, 
that they refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new 
king. 

6. It was in the midst of these internal dissensions that 
the kingdom of the Latins was assailed by a new enemy, 
namely, the Sultan Saladin, who joined much generosity of 
character to valour, policy, and military skill. He had risen 
from a private station to the sovereignty of Egypt, and he 
had been for years extending his influence and dominions. A 
fortress had been seized by a soldier of fortune, Keginald of 
Chatillon, from which he issued with his followers to pillage 
the caravans and insult the Mohammedans, and he even 
threatened the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. Saladin 
complained of these injuries, and being refused satisfaction, 
invaded the Holy Land with an army of 80,000 horse and 
foot. He advanced against Tiberias, to which he laid siege ; 
and a decisive battle was hazarded by the king of Jerusalem, 
in defence of this important place. The two armies met on 
the plain of Tiberias, and in a sanguinary conflict, which 
lasted two days, the Christians were completely overthrown, 
with the loss of 30,000 men. The king, the Marquis of 



CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM BY THE MOSLEMS. 417 

Montserrat, and the master of the templars, with many of their 
followers, were made prisoners ; and two hundred and thirty 
gallant knights of the cross were cruelly led out to execution 
after the battle. This great victory placed the whole coun- 
try at the mercy of the conqueror. The Christians were left 
without a head ; the towns and castles, drained of their 
governors, fell successively before Saladin's victorious force ; 
and scarcely had three months elapsed when he appeared in 
arms before the gates of Jerusalem. 

7. This city was in no condition to sustain a protracted 
siege. It was crowded with fugitives from every quarter, 
who here sought an asylum from the destroying sword ; a 
disorderly throng of 100,000 persons was confined within the 
walls, but there were few soldiers. The queen was alarmed 
for the fate of her captive husband, and her government was 
feeble and indecisive. A defence was, however, maintained 
for fourteen days, during which the besiegers had effected a 
breach in the wall, and only waited the Sultan's orders for the 
assault. This last extremity was averted by a capitulation, 
by which it was agreed that all the Franks and Latins should 
quit Jerusalem, receiving a safe conduct to the ports of Syria 
and Egypt, that the inhabitants should be ransomed for a 
sum of money, and that those who were unable to pay it 
should remain slaves. These conditions were liberally inter- 
preted and greatly mitigated by the generosity of the Sultan, 
who allowed the poor to be ransomed by wholesale for a mo- 
derate sum, and freely dismissed about 3000 more. In his 
interview with the Queen, he displayed the kindness and 
courtesy of his disposition, comforting her with his words, 
and even with his tears ; he distributed liberal alms among 
the widows and orphans of those who were slain, and allowed 
the warlike knights of the hospital to continue their care of 
the sick for another year. He made his triumphant entry 
into the city, with waving banners and martial music ; the 
Christian Church was converted into a mosque, and the 
glittering cross was taken down and dragged through the 
streets, amid the shouts of the Moslems. The whole country 
now submitted to the Sultan, whose victorious progress was 
first arrested by the resistance of Tyre, which was gallantly 
defended by Conrad. The Sultan, being foiled in all his at- 



418 



THE THIRD CRUSADE. 



tempts to take this place, was finally compelled to raise the 
siege, and to retreat to Damascus. 

8. The capture of Jerusalem by the infidels, and the de- 
cline of the Christian cause in Palestine, excited the deepest 
sorrow; the slumbering zeal of the European powers was 
aroused, and new expeditions were fitted out for the re- 
covery of the holy city. Philip, king of France, Frederick 
Barbarossa, the emperor of Germany, and Kichard I. of 
England, surnamed Coeur- de-Lion, assembled a large force, 
and, with the aid of Flanders, Frise, and Denmark, filled 
about 200 vessels with their troops. The first armaments 
landed at Tyre, the only remaining inlet of the Christians 
into the Holy Land, and no time was lost in commencing the 
celebrated siege of Acre, which was maintained with an en- 
thusiasm that mocked at clanger, and by feats of valour that 
were the theme of wonder, even in that romantic age. This 
memorable siege lasted for nearly two years, and was attended 
with a prodigious loss of men on both sides. At length, in 
the spring of the second year, the royal fleets of France and 
England cast anchor in the bay, with powerful reinforce- 
ments, and the brave defenders of Acre were reduced to capi- 
tulate. A ransom was demanded for their lives and liberties, 
of 200,000 pieces of gold, the deliverance of 100 nobles, and 
1500 inferior captives, and the restoration of the holy cross, 
which had been taken at the battle of Tiberias. Thus was 
an important town and harbour obtained by the Christians, 
but by an enormous sacrifice of men. The host that sur- 
rounded Acre amounted at different periods to 600,000 ; of 
these, 100,000 were slain during the siege of two years, a 
greater number perished by shipwreck and disease, and it is 
computed that only a very small remnant reached their na- 
tive shores. The place was taken possession of by the Chris- 
tians on the 12th of July 1191. 

9. The capture of Acre was the prelude to farther opera- 
tions against the enemy. Richard determined to commence 
the siege of Ascalon, about a hundred miles distant, and his 
march to this place was a continual battle of eleven days. 
He was opposed by Saladin with an army of 300,000 com- 
batants ; and on this occasion was fought one of the most 
memorable battles of this or any other age. Saladin was de- 



THE FOURTH CRUSADE. 



419 



featecl with the loss of 40,000 men, and the victorious Eichard 
obtained possession of Ascalon, and the other towns of Judaea. 
A severe winter interrupted the operations of the field. But 
Richard, issuing from his winter quarters with the first gleam 
of spring, advanced with his army within sight of Jerusalem, 
the great object of his enterprise. Saladin had chosen Jeru- 
salem for his head-quarters, where the sudden appearance of 
the Christian conqueror spread universal consternation. The 
holy city was, however, relieved by the hasty retreat of the 
English king, discouraged by the difficulties of the enterprise 
and the murmurs of his troops. In the meantime, the 
town of Jaffa was vigorously assaulted by Saladin with a for- 
midable force, and was on the point of surrendering, when 
Richard, hastening to its relief, encountered the besieging 
army of Saracens and Turks, amounting to 60,000 men, who 
Welded to the vigour of his attack. In the meantime, the 
miseries of a protracted war began to be severely felt, and the 
energetic views of Richard were obstructed by the discontent 
of his troops. Negociations were commenced, which were 
broken off, and as often resumed. The views of both parties 
varied with the fortune of war. At last, however, both Sala- 
din and Richard were equally desirous of terminating an un- 
popular and ruinous contest. The first demands of Richard 
were, the restitution of Jerusalem, Palestine, and the true 
cross. These terms were rejected by the Sultan, who would 
not part with the sovereignty of Palestine, or listen to any 
proposition for dismembering his dominions. A truce was at 
length concluded for three years, by which it was stipulated 
that the Latin Christians should have liberty to visit the holy 
city without being liable to tribute ; that the fort of Ascalon 
should be dismantled ; and that Jaffa and Tyre, with the in- 
tervening territory, should be surrendered to the Europeans. 
Soon after the conclusion of this treaty Richard embarked for 
Europe ; and Saladin, his great rival, did not survive many 
months the conclusion of peace. 

10. The fourth Crusade was encouraged by the zeal of 
Pope Celestine III. It was directed against the Greek em- 
pire, which was too feeble to resist so formidable an attack ; 
and the result was its conquest by the Latins, who ruled over 
it for fifty-seven years. 



420 



CHAPTEE VIII. A.D. 1203 to 1850. 

1. In the meantime, though partial successes were gained 
by the armies of the Crusaders in Palestine, their power was 
on the decline. A truce for six years had been concluded 
with Saphadin, the brother and successor of the Sultan Sala- 
din. The sovereign of the Latin kingdom at this time was 
Mary, the daughter of Isabella by Conrad of Tyre, Almeric 
and his wife being dead. In order to strengthen the govern- 
ment of Jerusalem, it was resolved to request the king of 
France, Philip Augustus, to provide a husband for Mary. 
John de Brienne, one of the most accomplished cavaliers in 
Europe, of tried valour and experience in war, was chosen ; 
and the Christian chiefs were so elated by this union, that 
they sought a pretence for breaking the subsisting truce be- 
tween them and the Sultan, and bringing matters to the ar- 
bitration of the sword. War accordingly ensued, and the 
new monarch of Jerusalem displayed all the great qualities 
of a statesman and a soldier, for which he was chosen ; and 
though his success did not entirely correspond to his hopes or 
wishes, yet he made a successful defence, and maintained for 
a time the Latin kingdom against the growing power of its 
enemies. He foresaw, however, that its gradual decline and 
final ruin were approaching, as it was now reduced to two or 
three towns, and preserved only in a precarious existence by 
the divisions and civil wars that prevailed among its enemies. 

2. This intelligence rekindled the dying zeal of the 
Christian world. A new Crusade was commenced, and a large 
force, chiefly of Hungarians and Germans, landed at Acre. 
The sons of Saphadin, who now ruled in Syria, collected their 
armies to oppose this formidable attack. But the Crusaders, 
rashly conducted, and weakened by divisions, advanced into 
the country without concert or prudence ; provisions failed 
them ; they were wasted, as usual, by famine and disease ; 



THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CRUSADES. 



421 



and at length their leader, the sovereign of Hungary, resolved 
to quit a country where he had been exposed to hardship and 
danger, without glory. The crusading armies, thus weakened 
and discouraged, had laid aside all further idea of offensive 
operations, when, in the spring of the following year, a fleet 
of 300 vessels, from the Ehine, appeared on the coast, and 
brought to their aid powerful reinforcements, which recruited 
their strength, and restored their ascendancy in the field. 
For reasons which do not clearly appear, they now retired 
from Palestine, and carried the war into Egypt, where they 
obtained important successes, having taken Damietta by storm, 
and spread such consternation among the infidels, that the 
most favourable terms of peace were offered, and rejected by 
the Crusaders. Soon after, however, having wasted their 
strength on the banks of the Xile, they were reduced to the 
necessity of bargaining for permission to retire to Palestine, 
by the cession of all their conquests in Egypt. 

3. The next Crusade was undertaken by Frederic II., 
the grandson of Barbarossa, according to a vow which had 
been long made, and the performance of which had been so 
long delayed, that he was excommunicated by Gregory IX. 
By his marriage with Violante, the daughter of John de 
Brienne, he was the more especially bound to vindicate his 
right to the kingdom of Jerusalem, which he had received as 
a dowry with his wife. After many delays, he set sail with 
a fleet of 200 ships and an army of 40,000 men, and arrived 
at Acre. This was the most successful and the most blood- 
less expedition that had yet been undertaken. Without the 
hazard of a battle Frederic entered Jerusalem in triumph. 
The Saracen power was at this time weakened by divisions ; 
and, owing to suspected treachery among his kindred, Kamel, 
the son of Saphadin, held precarious possession of the throne. 
It was his policy, therefore, rather to disarm the hostility of 
these powerful armies by treating with them, than to encounter 
them in the field ; and accordingly a treaty was concluded, 
by which Jerusalem, Jaffa, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and their 
dependencies, were restored to the Christians ; religious tole- 
ration was established, and the contending parties of Chris- 
tians and Mohammedans were allowed each to offer up their 
devotions, the first in the mosque El-Aksa, and the last in the 



422 



THE SEVENTH CRUSADE. 



mosque of Omar.* But all these services were performed by 
Frederic while under the stain of excommunication ; and hence 
the patriarch, when he made his entry into Jerusalem, re- 
fused to crown him, or to be present at the ceremonial ; Fre- 
deric, therefore, himself took the crown from the holy sepul- 
chre, and placed it on his own head. The stipulations of 
this treaty were not faithfully observed by the Saracens, and 
the Christians in Palestine still suffered under the oppression 
of the infidels. New levies were raised in Europe for the 
holy war, and a large force of French and English, led by the 
chief nobility of both nations, landed in Syria. Numerous 
battles were fought, which terminated in favour of the Sara- 
cens ; and the French Crusaders, accordingly, after severe 
losses, were glad to purchase peace by the cession of almost 
all their conquests in Palestine. Next year, when the Earl 
of Cornwall, with the English levy, arrived at the scene of 
action, he found, to his surprise, that all the territories and 
privileges which had been ceded to the emperor of Germany 
were lost ; and that a few fortresses, and a small strip of ter- 
ritory on the coast, comprised all that the Latins possessed in 
Palestine. He immediately prepared for the vigorous prose- 
cution of hostilities. But the Sultan, being involved in war 
with his brother in Damascus, readily granted favourable 
terms as the price of peace — namely, the cession to the Chris- 
tian armies of Jerusalem, Beirut, Nazareth, Bethlehem, Mount 
Tabor, and a large tract of the adjoining country. But the 
kingdom of Jerusalem, thus so happily re-established, was sub- 
verted by a calamity from a new and unexpected quarter. In 
the interior of Asia the conquests of Ghenghis Khan had 
brought about the most stupendous revolutions, and the bar- 
barous hordes of the desert, flying before his conquering sword, 
rushed like a torrent on other nations. The Kharismians, 
unable to withstand this powerful invader, were driven upon 
Syria, and the coalesced powers of Saracen and Christian were 
unable to resist their powerful assault. The Christian host 
was overthrown in a great battle, which lasted two days, and 
in which the grand masters of two orders, and most of the 

* Both these mosques stand on Mount Moriah ; the Christians believed that the 
mosque El-Aksa (which was originally a Christian church), and the Moslems that the 
mosque of Omar, occupied the precise site of Solomon's Temple. 



THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CRUSADES. 



423 



knights, were slain. The merciless invaders revelled in the 
sack and pillage of the holy city, sparing neither sex nor age ; 
and it was not until the year 1247 that they were routed near 
Damascus, by the Syrians and Mamluks, and driven back to 
their former settlements on the Caspian Sea. 

4. Each new disaster of the Christian arms served to re- 
kindle the languishing zeal of the Europeans ; and Louis IX. 
of France fitted out an immense armament for the Holy Land, 
consisting of 1800 sail, in which he embarked an army of 
50,000 men. He landed in Egypt, and, after storming the 
town of Damietta, advanced along the sea-coast towards Cairo, 
when his troops were so wasted by sickness and famine, that 
they fell an easy prey to the enemy. The king, the most of his 
nobles, and the remnant of his army, were made prisoners ; 
and it was owing to the clemency of the Sultan Moadhdham, 
who accepted a ransom for their lives, that Louis, with his 
few surviving followers, was permitted to embark for Palestine. 

5. The power of the Christians in Palestine, weakened, 
among other causes, by internal dissensions, was now vigo- 
rously assailed by the Sultan Bibars, the Mamluk sovereign 
of Egypt. He invaded Palestine with a formidable army, 
advanced to the gates of Acre, and, reducing the towns of 
Sepphoris and Azotus, massacred or carried into captivity 
numbers of Christians. The important city of Antioch yielded 
to his powerful assault, when 40,000 of the inhabitants were 
put to the sword, and 100,000 carried into captivity. The 
report of these cruelties in Europe gave rise to the ninth and 
last Crusade against the infidels, which was undertaken by 
Louis, the French king, sixteen years after his return from 
captivity. In place of directing his arms immediately against 
Palestine, he landed in Africa, and laid siege to Carthage, 
which he reduced. But he perished miserably on the burn- 
ing sands of Africa, of a pestilential disease, which proved 
fatal also to many of his troops ; and thus ingloriously termi- 
nated this expedition, which was the last undertaken by the 
Europeans for the recovery of the Holy Land. 

6. The Europeans in Palestine were now confined within 
the walls of Acre, their last stronghold, which was besieged 
by a Mamluk host of 200,000 troops, that issued from Egypt, 
and encamped on the adjacent plain. In this their last con- 



424 PALESTINE INVADED BY BONAPARTE. 

flict with the infidels of the Holy Land, the Europeans fully 
maintained the glory of their high name. They displayed all 
the devotion of martyrs in a holy cause, and performed pro- 
digies of valour. But, equalled as they were in discipline, 
and fearfully overmatched in numbers, by their enemies, they 
were overborne by the weight and violence of their attacks, 
and in the storm and sack of the city, all either perished or 
were carried into captivity. Thus terminated for ever all 
those visions of glory and conquest by which so many adven- 
turers were seduced from Europe to the Holy Land, there to 
perish under the complicated perils of disease and the sword. 
The other smaller towns which still remained in possession of 
the Christians yielded without a struggle to the Moslem arms, 
and, under the religious tyranny of the infidels which suc- 
ceeded, the Christians in Palestine were everywhere reduced 
to the lowest degree of debasement. The pilgrims who still 
visited Jerusalem were exposed to insult and danger; and 
large contributions were exacted by their oppressors for a free 
passage through the Holy Land. The Mamluk Sultans of 
Egypt continued to rule over Palestine till the year 1382, 
when the country was overrun by a barbarous tribe from the 
interior of Asia. On their expulsion, the sovereignty of the 
Egyptian Sultans was again acknowledged, until the country 
yielded to the formidable irruption of the great Tamerlane. 
At his death Jerusalem reverted to the kingdom of Egypt, 
and was finally subdued by the Turks, under whose barba- 
rous rule it has continued for more than 300 years. The 
country was partitioned into provinces, in each of which a 
pasha ruled with a despotic authority equal to that of the 
Sultan. 

7. In this condition Palestine remained without any re- 
markable event in its history, except that for nearly three 
centuries it was the scene of domestic broils, insurrections, 
and massacres, until the memorable invasion of Egypt by the 
French army. Bonaparte, being apprised that preparations 
were making in the pachalik of Acre for attacking him in 
Egypt, resolved, according to his usual tactics, to anticipate 
the movements of his enemies. He accordingly marched 
across the desert which divides Egypt from Palestine, and 
invaded the country at the head of 10,000 troops. El-Arish 



SIEGE OF ACRE. 



425 



surrendered, and the lives of the garrison were spared on 
condition that they should not serve against him during the 
Avar. Gaza also yielded without opposition ; and Jaffa, 
stormed after a "brave resistance, was given up to pillage. 
The French army then proceeded to form the siege of Acre ; 
and this fortress, the last scene of conflict between the Chris- 
tians and infidels of former days, became a modern field of 
battle, in which were exhibited prodigies of valour that 
rivalled the most renowned deeds of those chivalric times. 
The trenches were opened on the 10th of March ; in ten 
days a breach was effected, and a desperate assault took 
place. At first the defenders were forced to give way ; but 
Djezzar Pasha, who had shut himself within the walls, and 
who was aided by Sir Sidney Smith with a body of British 
salljrs, rushed forward among the thickest of the combatants, 
and, animating the troops by his example, drove back the 
enemy with heavy loss. Bonaparte still persevered in a 
series of furious assaults against the fortress, which were all 
most gallantly repelled ; and after a protracted siege of sixty 
days, a last assault was ordered, which being equally unsuc- 
cessful with all former attempts, and attended with the loss 
of some of his bravest warriors, dictated the necessity of an 
immediate retreat. 

8. In the present century a new power arose in the East, 
namely, that of Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, who, having 
collected large treasures and a well-disciplined army, openly 
renounced his allegiance to the Grand Signior. A war took 
place, in which the hasty levies of Turkey were broken and 
put to flight by the veteran troops of Egypt ; and a series of 
brilliant successes added Syria, with Palestine, to the pasha's 
dominion. The people generally were disposed to hail the 
change of masters with pleasure ; and by a well-advised and 
moderate system of government, Mehemet Ali might have 
bound them firmly to his person and his cause. But, 
although in some respects an enlightened man, his notions of 
government were still Oriental and despotic ; and the sort of 
European discipline and order which he had introduced into 
his civil and military service, was chiefly valued by him as 
an instrument in giving the more general and certain effect 
to his extortions. The Syrians soon discovered that, instead 

T 2 



426 



CONCLUSION. 



of being relieved from the exactions of the Turkish govern- 
ment, much heavier burdens were laid upon them. The 
conscription, or forcible impressment of young men for the 
army, and the disarming of the population, were, however, 
the measures which created the most general discontent, and 
led to such disturbances and revolts, as encouraged the Porte 
in the design which it had always entertained, of reducing 
the pasha and recovering the ceded provinces. Eventually a 
Turkish army appeared on the northern frontier of Syria, 
and soon came into collision with the Egyptian army under 
Ibrahim Pasha, eldest son of Mehemet Ali. The Turks were 
completely routed by the Egyptians in the battle of Nezib ; and 
the great powers of Europe then deemed it right to interfere, 
to prevent Ibrahim from pursuing his victory, and to crush 
the ambitious designs of his father. This was accomplished 
chiefly through the brilliant operations of an English fleet, 
under Admiral Stopford and Commodore Napier, by which 
Acre and other strongholds on the coast were taken for the 
Sultan ; and the pasha was at length compelled to evacuate 
Syria, and restore it to the dominion of the Porte, which has 
.since administered the government of the country with greater 
mildness, and with less disregard of European influence, than 
they formerly manifested. Jerusalem, which had long been 
overlooked in the policy of nations, has recently become of 
importance in the eyes of the greatest states in the world. 
The five great powers of Europe have established consuls in 
the city, and two of them, England and Prussia, have joined 
to found there an Anglican Episcopate, in connection with 
which a Protestant church has been built upon Mount Zion. 




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